THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY: 



ITS 



PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 



..JJ 

THE 



MISSISSIPPI VALLEY: 



ITS 



PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY, 



INCLDDING SKETCHES OF THE 



TOPOGRAPHY, BOTANY, CLIMATE, GEOLOGY, AND MINERAL 

RESOURCES ; AND OF THE PROGRESS OF DEVELOPMENT 

IN POPULATION AND MATERIAL WEALTH. 



j^^*W#FOSTER, LL.D. 



PRESIDENT OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE; 

JOINT-AUTHOR OF "FOSTER AND WHITNEY'S REPORT ON THE GEOLOGY OF 

THE LAKE SUPERIOR REGION;" LECTURER ON PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY 

AND COGNATE SCIENCES IN THE UNIVERSITY OF 

CHICAGO, ETC., ETC. 



Illustrated by Maps and Sections. 

"Reriun co"noscere causas." 




CHICAGO: 
GRIGGS AND COMPANY. 

LONDON : 

TRUE NER & CO 

1869. 



>i-V 



Entered according- to Act of Congress, in the year 1S69, 

By S. C. GRK5GS AND CO., 

In tlie Clerk's Office of Uie District Court of the Northern District of Illinois. 



CHURCH, GOODMAN AND DONNELLEY, PRINTERS, CHICAGO. 



JOHN CONAHAN, STEREOTYPER. 



T^5 



PREFACE. 



Having devoted many years to explorations in 
different parts of the Mississippi Valley, and to 
the study of its soil, climate, and resources — min- 
eral and agricultural, — and having been a witness, 
in part, of the gigantic strides which have been 
made during the lifetime of a generation, in those 
arts which contribute so essentially to the comforts 
and conveniences of man; — I propose to describe, 
in a comprehensive form, the Physical Geography 
of this wonderful region, and particularly of that 
portion which lies west of the great dividing line — 
the Mississippi River. Already this valley con- 
tains a majority of the people of the United States; 
and the developments which are now going on to 
bring it into close commercial relations with the 
mining regions of the Ultra-montane and Pacific 
States, and with the markets of the Orient, will 
add vastly to its resources, and to its commanding 
position as a part of the Great Republic. 



VI PREFACE. 

With regard to the capacities of the region lying 
between the eastern rim of the Great Basin and 
the Missouri River, and known as the Plains, the 
vaguest ideas prevail. Some theorists, little versed 
in the laws of cliinatology, and over-sanguine as to 
the expansibility of our country, have anticipated 
the time when population would flow, in an un- 
broken wave, to the base of the Rocky Mountains; 
while others, more cautious, drawing their conclu- 
sions from sources not less erroneous, have been 
disposed to regard this region as an irreclaimable 
desert. It is neither. AVhile God has doomed 
certain portions of the surface to everlasting sterility, 
the greater portion will forever afford vast ranges 
for pasturage; and much of it, under a suitable sys- 
tem of irrigation, can be reclaimed and made to 
rival the ancient fruitfiilness of the valleys of the 
Tigris and Euphrates. 

The phenomena of forest-growth, of grassy 
plains, and arid wastes, it is believed, result from 
laws as constant and harmonious in their opera- 
tion as those which regulate the planetar}'^ move- 
ments. 

It was with a view of illustrating the gradations 
between the forest, prairie, and desert ; the varying 
conditions of temperature and moisture, and their 
effects in determining the range of those plants 
cultivated for food; and, at the same time, to trace 



PREFACE. Vli 

the character of the fundamental rocks over the 
whole of this region, pointing out the mode of 
occurrence of those ores and minerals useful in the 
arts; and, finally, to trace the colonization of this 
region from its feeble beginnings to its present 
magnificent proportions; that this work was under- 
taken. With the multiplication of observations — 
meteorological and geological, — it may be found 
necessar}^ to modify some of the views herein ex- 
pressed; and the most that I can hope is, that they 
may prove to be in the right direction. 

No writer at this day upon physical geography 
can justly ignore the great name of Humboldt. 
He explored nearly the whole realm of nature, and 
investigated her laws with a patient industry, and 
in a philosophical spirit, which have seldom been 
approached. He first reduced meteorolog}' to the 
regular and consistent form of a science, when he 
mapped the lines of equal temperature, thus show- 
ing the distribution of heat over the seasons, and, 
in connection with the hygrometric state of the 
atmosphere, and the precipitation of rain, traced 
their effects upon the geographical range of plants. 
From confusion and uncertainty, he evoked order 
and harmony; out of materials apparently incon- 
gruous and misshapen, he erected a temple to 
science, proportionate alike in its outlines and in 



Vin PREFACE. 

its several parts. He is emphatically the father of 
the science known as Physical Geography. 

The scientific expeditions fitted out by the Gov- 
ernment to determine the most practicable routes 
for railways between the Mississippi Valley and the 
Pacific Coast, have given us an insight into a vast 
reo^ion which before was almost a terra incognita. 
The results are embodied in a series of volumes, 
not accessible to the general reader, even if he had 
the time to peruse them, known as " The Pacific 
Railroad Surveys." The earlier expeditions 
of Lewis and Clarke, Pike, Long, Fremont, 
Wilkes, Stansbury, and others, gave us general 
outlines of the physical geography; and yet, with 
the combined results of these observers, and of 
those who have subsequently become connected 
with the various mining enterprises, much is yet to 
be determined in every branch of natural history. 

To Messrs. Meek and Hayden the public are 
indebted for valuable contributions to the geology 
of the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains. 

The results of the Geological Survey of Califor- 
nia, under the charge of Prof J. D. Whitney, 
afford us a key to unlock the hidden mysteries of 
that complicated region; and it is to be regretted 
that so important a work has been suspended. 

In the year 1819, a regular series of meteorologi- 
cal observations was instituted at the various Mill- 



PREFACE. IX 

tar}^ Posts of the United States, under the authority 
of the Secretary of War, which has been continued 
to the present time. In 1857, these observations, 
together with those which had been made at other 
points by competent observers, were tabulated and 
brought out by Mr. Lorin Blodget, in a work en- 
titled " The Climatology of the United States." This 
work contains a vast amount of information, and is 
the foundation of most of our discussions in refer- 
ence to the lines of temperature, the distribution 
of rain, and the prevalent direction of winds in the 
United States. But a work so thorough, must 
necessarily be encumbered with minute details, so 
that the generalizations are not presented in so 
compendious a form as to be appreciable by the 
cursory reader, nor are they, in all instances, car- 
ried to their legitimate results. The work is like 
an arsenal, to which the soldier resorts to equip 
himself with an armor suited to the actual conflict. 

It is to be regretted that the Smithsonian Insti- 
tution, which has been made the repositor}' of these 
observations continued up to the present time, has 
not communicated to the world the tabulated 
results. These results, it is hardly necessary to 
say, are of great importance in enabling us to 
determine the varying fertility of the Continent. 

Prof Asa Gray, in Silliman's Journal, 1857 
and 1859, and Dr. J. G. Cooper, in the Patent 



X PREFACE. 

Office Report for i860, have contributed valuable 
information on the geographical range of the tor- 
est-trees of North America; and it is to Sir John 
Richardson that v^e are almost entirely indebted 
for our knowledge of the climatology, in connec- 
tion with the botany, of the circumpolar region of 
this Continent. 

The work of Humphreys and Abbot, on " The 
Physics and Hydraulics of the Mississippi River," 
is of the very highest scientific interest. Principles 
the most elaborate, are patiently wrought out, and 
the results are clearly enunciated. From these 
demonstrations, it is evident that the views which 
formerly prev^ailed as to the extent of the delta, and 
the effects of fluviatile action upon the bed and 
enclosing banks of that river, were not understood. 

This work, — which, with much distrust, I now 
submit to the public, — is not intended to be a purely 
scientific treatise. The severity of style and rigor 
of deduction which characterize such works, have 
been purposely avoided. I have attempted rather 
to present a series of graphic sketches of the 
great phenomena of the region under considera- 
tion, in a form which should interest and instruct 
the general reader, and, at the same time, to explain 
those natural laws to whose operation these phe- 
nomena are due. In preparing it for the press, I 
have been oppressed by a double fear, — lest, while 



PREFACE. XI 

I might render it too abstruse for the compre- 
hension of the general reader, at the same time, the 
specialties were not sufficiently exact to satisfy the 
requirements of those, who brought to the investi- 
gation of these subjects a purely scientific spirit. 
These details render science repellent to those who 
have not acquired a special knowledge of the ele- 
ments on which it is based. It is believed, how- 
ever, that generalizations may be set forth in a man- 
ner to interest and instruct the ordinary reader. 

In discussing the operation of natural laws as 
manifested in climate, in the distribution of moist- 
ure, and even in the origin and spread of civiliza- 
tion, I have felt at liberty to draw my illustrations 
from every quarter of the world, and from almost 
ever}^ department of science. These illustrations 
will show that man, even, however much he may 
boast of his dominion over matter, is the creature 
of climate; and that, only under certain favorable 
conditions, does he attain to the full development 
of his phj'sical and intellectual powers. Such con- 
ditions, it is believed, obtain in the Upper Valley 
of the Mississippi. 

Chicago, Febrtiary i, 1S69. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 

The magnitude of the Mississippi — Area — Subordinate basins — 
Internal navigation — Character of Lower Mississippi — Charac- 
teristic vegetation — Overflows — Bluft"s — Levees — Outlets — Ap- 
proaches — Phenomena of waters — Geology — Area of alluvium 
and delta — Earthquake-action. ----- Page i 

CHAPTER IL 

MOUNTAINS AND PLAINS. 

Character of the water-sheds — The Appalachain Range — The Rocky 
Mountains — The Sierra Nevada — The Cascade Range — The 
Coast Ranges — Ridges of the Great Basin — Character of the 
sources of the Mississippi — Of the Ohio Valley — The Llano 
Estacado — Rocky Mountain Valleys — Colorado Desert — Valley 
of the St. Lawrence — Pacific Railroad routes — Rdsumd. - 26 

CHAPTER III. 

THE ORIGIN OF PRAIRIES. 

Distribution of forest, prairie, and desert — Prairies not due to peat- 
growth — Not due to the texture of the soil — Not due to the 
annual burnings — Zones of vegetation — The Great Basin — Cli- 
matic conditions — Mean annual precipitation — Source of mois- 
ture — Periodical rains of California — Conclusions. - -71 

CHAPTER IV. 

THE ORIGIN OF PRAIRIES — continued. 

South America — Primeval forests of Brazil — The Llanos of Carac- 
cas — The Pampas of La Plata and the Gran Chaco — Patagonia — 



XIV CONTENTS. 

Its deserts and mountains — Pei-u and the desert ofAtacama — 
Wind and rain charts — Europe — Plains of the Black Sea — 
Steppes of the Caucasus — Plateau of Central Asia — Desert of 
Arabia — Africa — Sahara — Guinea — Basin of the Mediterra- 
nean — Australia — Resume — Explanation of Map. - - 112 

CHAPTER V. 

FOREST-CULTURE AND IRRIGATION. 

How plants grow — Effects of forests on health — On animal life — 
Effects of disrobing a country of forests — Rapid destruction 
of forests in the United States — Forests, their lessons — They 
modify climate — They retain moisture — Tree-planting — Irriga- 
tion — Practiced at an early day on botli hemispheres — Success- 
fully introduced on the Rocky Mountain slopes — Feasibility of 
its application in California, the Colorado Desert, and the West- 
ern Plains. ---------- 141 

CHAPTER VI. 

CLIMATE. 

Definition of climate — Atmospheric currents — Rains and winds — 
Cloud-bursts — Isothermal lines — Gulf-stream — Evaporative 
power of winds — Isotherms of the United States — Climate of 
the Pacific Slope and Great Basin — Phenomena of the seasons — 
Table of temperatures — Of rain-precipitation. - - 173 

CHAPTER VII. 

CULTIVATED PLANTS. 

Conditions of climate and soil restricting the range of plants — Of the 
soil in reference to the growth of particular plants — Maize, — 
Wheat, — Oats, — Rye, and Barley — Natives of the plains of Cen- 
tral Asia — Rice — Sugar-cane — Sorghum — Potato — Cotton — 
Tobacco — Grasses for pasturage — Exhaustion of the soil — Fa- 
cilities for cultivation — Tables of population and production. 

209 

CHAPTER VIII. 

GEOLOGY — IGNEOUS AND METAMORPHIC ROCKS. 

Geological structure of the Mississippi Valley — Tabular view of the 
different formations — Igneous rocks of different age — Systems 
of elevation of mountain chains — The Lake Superior system — 
The Primeval Continent — The Appalachian system — The Rocky- 



CONTENTS. XV 

Mountain system — Tlie Pacific Coast Ranges — Igneous pro- 
ducts — River systems — The Azoic system, associated with iron- 
ores — Iron-region of Lake Superior — Of Missouri — The Mytho- 
logical age of metals — The present, the Iron age — Annual 
product of the world. ---..._." 242 

CHAPTER IX. 

GEOLOGY — conti/iued, — sedimentary rocks. 

Silurian system — First evidences of organic life — Area of Silurian — 
Lower Silurian — Potsdam sandstone — Pictured Rocks — Copper- 
region of Lake Superior — Lower Magnesian limestone — Lead- 
bearing veins of Missouri — St. Peter's sandstone — Cincinnati 
Blue limestone — Galena limestone — Upper Silurian system — 
Niagara limestone — Onondaga salt-group — Devonian system — 
Carboniferous system — Fluor spar, with veins of galena — Ga- 
lena deposits — Silver ores of Mexico — Coal-Measures, their 
area — Thickness — Character of the coals — Permian sj'stem — 
Triassic and Jurassic series — Gold deposits of California — Cop- 
per deposits — Cretaceous deposits — Coal dei^osits. - - 272 

CHAPTER X. 

geology — continued, — sedimentary rocks. 

Tertiary system — Marine of tlie Atlantic Slope — Fresh-water of the 
Missouri Basin — Marine of the Pacific Coast — Economic value 
of the Tertiary coals — Igneous products of the Great Basin — 
Comstock lode, its j'ield in silver — Drift-epoch — Drift-action in 
the Mississippi Valley — Erosive action on the Pacific Slope and 
in the Colorado Plateau — Terraces of Modified Drift — Loess — 
Sand-dunes — The Great Lakes — Drift-phenomena — Denuda- 
tion — Area, depth, and elevation — Resume. - _ - ^18 

CHAPTER XI. 

INFLUENCE OF CLIMATE ON MAN. 

Geographical range of man, as compared with that of plants — Con- 
ditions of human life under different zones — Arctic life — 
Tropical life — Life in Northern temperate zone — Human 
energy displaj'ed within certain isothermal lines — In Europe — 
In North America — Climate of the Southern States, and the con- 
dition of society — Climate of the Northern States, and the con- 
dition of society — Effects of tiaese dift'erences seen in the Rebel- 
lion — Physical development. ------ ^^^ 



XVI CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XII. 

ORIGIN OF CIVILIZATION. 

Valley of the Mississippi, its prospective population — Greece the 
cradle of civilization — Rome the inheritor of that civilization — 
Origin of Teutons and Celts — Characteristics of each race — 
Colonization of North America — National unitj — Causes which 
promote it — English character — Their homogeneity as com- 
pared with that of the people of the United States — The civil- 
izing eftects of the Christian religion. ----- 377 

CHAPTER XIII. 

PROGRESS OF DEVELOPMENT. 

Ordinance of 17S7 for the government of the Northwestern Terri- 
tory — Its effect upon the character of the colonization — First 
settlement of the region — Relative growth in population — Area 
of Western States — Agricultural products, their rapid increase — 
The assessed value of real and personal property — Indians — 
Their habits — Government policy towards them — The Mound- 
builders — Their civilization — Antiquity of their works — Con- 
clusion. ----------- 401 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Map — Showing the distribution of Forest, Prairie, and Desert, - 140 

Map — Showing the Isothermal Lines of the United States, - 200 

Geological Sketch of the United States, - - - - 272 

Index, 433 



THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY: 



PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 

THK MAGNITUDE OF THE MISSISSIPPI AREA SUBORDINATE 

BASINS INTERNAL NAVIGATION CHARACTER OF LOWER 

MISSISSIPPI CHARACTERISTIC VEGETATION OVERFLOWS- - 

BLUFFS LEVEES OUTLETS APPROACHES PHENOMENA 

OF WATERS GEOLOGY AREA OF ALLUVIUM AND DELTA 

EARTHQUAKE ACTION. 



"The beginnings of a river are insignificant, and its infancy is frivo- 
lous ; it plays among the flowers of a meadow, it waters a garden, or 
turns a little mill. Gathering strength in its growth, it becomes wild 
and impetuous. Impatient of the restraints it meets with, in the hol- 
lows among the mountains, it is restless and fretful ; quick in its turn- 
ing, and unsteady in its course. Now it is a roaring cataract, tearing 
up and overturning whatever opposes its progress, and it shoots head- 
long down from a rock ; then it becomes a sullen and gloomy pool, 
buried in the bottom of a glen. Recovering breath by repose, it again 
dashes along, till, tired of uproar and mischief, it quits all that it has 
swept along, and leaves an opening of the valley strewed with the 
rejected waste. Now, quitting its retirement, it comes abroad into the 
world, journeying with more prudence and discretion, through culti- 

I 



2 THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 

vated fields, yielding to circumstances, and winding round what it 
would trouble it to overwhelm and remove. It passes through popu- 
lous cities, and all the busy haunts of men, tendering its services on 
every side, and becomes the support and ornament of the country. 
Increased by numerous alliances, and advanced in its course, it 
becomes grave and stately in its motions, loves peace and quiet, 
and, in majestic silence, rolls on its mighty waters, till it is laid to 
rest in the vast abyss." — Pliuy, '^ Hisi. Nai." Lib. V. 



Magnitude of the ATississippi. — The Missis- 
sippi * River, when we consider its great length, 
the number and character of its tributaries — often 
exceeding the first-class rivers of Europe, — the 
area of country which it drains, the vast system of 
internal navigation which it atfords, and the popu- 
lous towns which have been founded on its banks, 
may be regarded as one of the most striking 
topographical features of the earth. The rivers 
descending from the Atlantic and Pacific slopes 
are, for the most part, short and rapid, and are not 
navigable beyond the reach of tide- water; but this 

* The name is derived from the Algonquin, or Chippewyan, lan- 
guage — Missi, great, and Sept, river. To the same root, or corruptions 
of it, may be traced several conspicuous bodies of water in the North- 
west. The Indian name of Churchill River is Missi-nepi, probablj' 
identical in meaning with Mississippi. Gionmi signifies water, or a 
collection of water, not running; thus, the aboriginal name of Lake 
Superior was KitcJii, great — allied to Micki or Missi — and Gii?nini\ 
water; Michi-ga7i (Michigan) is a corruption of the same thing. In 
conversing with a Chippewyan Indian, he will describe any large body 
of running water, as Missi, or Alichi, Sepi, or Sebi, and any large 
body of still water as MitcJii, or Missi, Giiinmi (great water) ; so that 
what he would regard as a generic term, we use as a specific term, 
which has become thoroughly incorporated with some of the most 
marked topographical features of the Northwest. 



INTERNAL NAVIGATION. 3 

river-system penetrates to the heart of a continent, 
and, with its numerous tributaries, affords an inland 
navigation of unsurpassed magnificence. 

Area — Subordinate Basins. — The Mississippi 
Valley comprises an area of 2,455,000 square miles, 
extending through 30 degrees of longitude and 23 



degrees of latitude:- 



•an area greater than that of 



all Europe, exclusive of Russia, Norway, and 
Sweden. 

It is composed of several subordinate basins, 
whose area, elevation, drainage, etc., are as fol- 
lows:* 



River. 



Upper Mississippi. 

Missouri 

Ohio 

Arliansas 

Red River 

Yazoo 

St. Francis 

Lower Mississippi. 



DISTANCE 


HEIGHT 


WIDTH 


DOWN- 


MEAN 


FROM 


ABOVE 


AT 


FALL OF 


disch'ge 


MOUTH. 


SEA. 


MOUTH. 


RAIN. 


PER SEC. 


Miles. 


Feet. 


Feet. 


Inches. 


Cub. Feet. 


1.330 


1,680 


5,000 


35-2 


105,000 


2.908 


6,800.? 


3,000 


20.9 


120,000 


1,265 


1,649 


3,000 


41-5 


158,000 


i>5H 


10,000 


1,500 


29-3 


63,000 


1,200 


2,450 


800 


39-0 


57,000 


500 


210 


850 


46-3 


43.000 


380 


I J 150 


700 


41. 1 


31,000 


1,286 


416 


2,470 


30.4 


675.000 



AREA 

OF 
BASIN. 

Sg. Miles. 



169,000 

518,000 

214,000 

189,000 

97,000 

13-850 

10.500 

1,244,000 



Internal Navigation. — The Mississippi and its 
tributaries afford an internal navigation for steam- 



* Humplireys and Abbot, "Physics and Hydraulics of Miss. River." 



4 THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 

boats, of more than 9,000 miles in extent.* They 
have proved the great highways by which, within 
a brief period, man has been able to penetrate to 
the interior of the continent, and to subdue it to his 
uses. 

* The Mississippi is navigable — 

From its mouth to St. Paul, . . . i,944 miles. 

And from St. Anthony to Sauk Rapids, . . So " 

Making a total navigation of . . . 2,020 " 

Several of its upper tributaries are navigable — 

The Minnesota to Patterson's Rapids, . . 295 " 

The St. Croix to St. Croix, . . . . 60 " 

The Illinois to La Salle, . . . . 220 " 

The Missouri is navigable, at high water, from its 

mouth to Fort Benton, .... 2,644 " 
but ordinarily to 60 miles above the mouth of the 
Yellowstone (1,894 miles) . . . Ij9S4 " 

(The volume of water discharged by the Yellowstone 
is represented to be about the same as that of the 
Missouri; and after the junction, the river attains 
a width of 2,000 feet.) 
The Ohio is navigable to Pittsburgh, . . 975 " 

The Monongahela to Geneva, . . . 91 " 

The Tennessee to Muscle Shoals, . . 600 " 

The Cumberland to Burkesville, . . . 370 " 

Some of its other tributaries, which have been slack- 
watered, give a navigation of . . . ^550 " 
The Arkansas is navigable, in flood, to Ft. Gibson, 642 " 
but during its lowest stage, it is difficult for boats 
of the lightest draught to reach Fort Smith, . 522 " 
The Red river is navigable, in ordinary stage, to 

Shrevesport, ..... 330 " 

but only in flood, to Preston, . . . 820 " 

The St. Francis is navigable to Wittsburg, . 80 " 

The White River is navigable to Batesvillc, . . 175 " 

The Yazoo to Greenwood, . . . 240 " 

The Kaw has been ascended to Fort Riley, . . 100 " 

but the navigation is ordinarily precarious. 
The Platte is an important tributary of the Missouri, which, like the 
Canadian and the Arkansas, reaches to the base of the Rocky Moun- 
tains, and spreads out over a wide space, so that it is totally unfit for 
navigation. 



CHARACTER OF THE LOWER MISSISSIPPI. 5 

Character of the Lower Alississippi. — 

"At the mouth of the Missouri, the Mississippi first assumes 
its characteristic appearance of a turbid and boiling torrent, 
immense in volume and force. From that point, its waters 
pursue their devious way for more than 1306 miles, destroying 
banks and islands at one locality, reconstructing them at 
another, absorbing tributary after tributary, without visible 
increase in size, — until, at length, it is in turn absorbed in the 
great volume of the Gulf." * 

The shores of the Gulf, so far as relates to the 
Louisianian coast, are bordered, for fifty miles 
inland, by swamps, bayous, and lakes. The 
swamps generally consist of an oozy mass of mud, 
from twenty to forty feet in depth, resting on blue 
clay. Upon the hummocks, a variety of vegetable 
forms take root, unknown in the regions to the 
northward. 

Typical Forms of Vegetation. — Conspicuous 
among these is the cypress, which is first seen 
near the mouth of the Ohio, and is alwa3's found 
on land subject to overflow. From a protuberance 
at the surface, a shaft rises straight to the height of 
sixty or eighty feet, without a limb, when it throws 
out numerous branches, umbrella-shaped, which 
sustain a foliage of short, fine, tufted leaves, of a 
green so deep as to appear almost brown. They 
grow so close together, that their branches inter- 

* Humphreys and Abbot. 



6 THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 

lock; and hence a C3^press forest resembles a mass 
of verdure sustained in the air by tall perpendicular 
columns. From their branches, depend long fes- 
toons of moss, which sway to and fro in the wind, 
like so many shrouds, — communicating to the 
scene the most dismal aspect. Arranged around 
the parent stem, are numerous cone-shaped protu- 
berances, known as "cypress knees," which enable 
the roots of the tree to communicate with the air; 
a provision of nature which is essential to its 
vitality. 

The cypress loves the gloomiest and most inac- 
cessible portions of the southern forest, and where, 
for one-half of the year, the surface is submerged. 
Repulsive, then, as is its habitat, it is the most val- 
uable of all the southern lumber trees. Soft, free 
from knots, rifting straight, and easily wrought, it 
is fit for shingles, boards, and finishing material. 

The palmetto, not the species of the Carolinii 
coast, is another characteristic form of these 
swamps, and one which, by its peculiarities, at 
once arrests the eye of the northern traveler. It 
is perennial; and, from a large, tough root, throws 
up a stem six feet high, sustaining fan-shaped palm- 
leaves, exactly ribbed, and of a rich green verdure. 
These are used for fans, for braiding into hats, and 
for thatching the huts of the negroes. 

These swamps, clothed with trees of abundant 



TYPICAL FORMS OF VEGETATION. 7 

and interlaced branches, springing from a mass of 
ooze tremulous to the foot, remind one of the estu- 
aries and lakes, with their luxuriant vegetation, 
which stretched over large areas of the earth's sur- 
face during the Carboniferous epoch — a vegetation 
which furnished no sustenance to the higher forms 
of animal life, and which flourished in an atmos- 
phere probably fatal to air-breathing animals. 
These swamps are the chosen retreats of the alli- 
gator, the lizard, and moccasin snake, and swarm 
with mosquitoes and other venemous insects. To 
man, they are impassable, except when flooded. 
To traverse them, he should be like Milton's flend, 
qualified for all elements and all services; who, 

" With head, hands, wings, or feet, pursues Iiis way ; 
And swims, or sinks, or wades, or creeps, or flies." 

In connection with the southern vegetation, two 
other types may be mentioned; the live-oak and 
the magnolia. The live-oak is a noble tree — tall, 
with long spreading branches, and presenting 
almost as o^reat a mass of foliao;'e as the northern 
elm. Its range does not extend beyond latitude 
thirty-one north. 

The magnolia belongs to the tribe of laurels. 
The beauty of this tree has been greatly overrated. 
It is, according to Flint, only a fifth-rate tree, which 
grows in the rich alluvium of the Louisiana bottoms, 



8 THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 

where the soil is congenial to its full development. 
It is tall, graceful in form, with a smooth, light- 
colored bark, like that of the beech. The wood is 
soft and useless. The leaves are glossy on the 
upper surface, like those of the orange, with a 
yellowish down upon the under surface. The 
flower is large, and of a pure white, like those of 
the northern pond-lily, but twice the size. The 
odor is strong and not offensive. "Instead of dis- 
playing," says Flint, "a cone of flowers, we have 
seldom seen a tree in flower which did not require 
some attention and closeness of inspection to dis- 
cover where the flowers are situated among the 
eaves. " 

There are six or seven species among the laurels 
of the magnolia tribe. 

Overjloxv of the Mississippi. — When in flood, 
the river extends to a width of thirty miles, and the 
surplus waters find their way to the ocean through 
deep forests and almost interminable swamps. The 
ordinary channel is marked by an outline of woods. 
As the flood recedes, it leaves behind, in the bottom 
lands, a sediment as fine and as fertilizing as the 
Nile mud. The course of the river is in a series 
of curves, from ten to twelve miles in diameter, 
sweeping round with great uniformity, until it 

* " Mississippi Valley." 



BLUFFS. 9 

returns to a point ver}^ near the one from which it 
was deflected. The current continually encroaches 
on the alluvial banks, until finally, during high 
flood, a crevasse occurs, when nearly the whole 
volume of water rushes through the newly-formed 
channel, known as a "cut-oflV Hence, along its 
whole course are seen numerous crescent-shaped 
lakes which owe their origin to this cause. Sand- 
bars accumulate at the mouths of the ancient 
channels, on which first rushes take root, and sub- 
sequently cotton-wood, thus forming lakes which, 
except in flood, become isolated from the river. 

The river being no where rock-bound in its 
lower course, and its banks consisting of the most 
comminuted materials, has great excavating power.* 

BJitffs. — The alluvial bottoms are ordinarily 
impassable, and the bluffs only afford sites for habi- 
tations. In a few instances, they approach the river, 
as at the Iron Banks, near Columbus, and the Chalk 



* The citation of a single case, which occurred at New Madrid, will 
suffice. Joseph Lewis (quoting, as authority, an old resident,) as mar- 
shal, in 1798, was ordered, bj the local Spanish government, to move 
the church one mile north, to prevent its being undermined. The dis- 
tance was measured by a surveyor, and the order was executed. 

In 181 1, the region having passed into the possession of another 
government, no pains were taken to protect the church against farther 
encroachments, when it fell into the river. My informant had seen 
the original plat of the town, which extended back from the river front 
four miles. There now remains a strip of the original plat, not more 
than sixty feet in width. 



lO THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 

Banks, near Hickman, Kentucky; at Fulton, Ran- 
dolph, Old River (but here the river has receded), 
and Memphis, Tennessee; at AValnut Hills or 
Vicksburg, Grand and Petit Gulf, Natchez, and 
Fort Adams, Mississippi; and at St. Francisville 
and Baton Rouge, Louisiana. All of the bluffs 
occur on the east side of the river, except the St. 
Francis Hills, and Point Chicot. 

The bluffs, as first suggested by Lyell, belong 
to the age of the Rhenish Loess, and ordinarily 
consist of beds of yellowish loam, sand, and clay, 
with beds of lignite of an earlier age beneath. 

Levees. — To protect the plantations from over- 
flow, a system of levees was commenced many- 
years ago; and, to aid the extension, Congress 
passed an act directing the proceeds of the sale 
of swamp-lands to be devoted to this purpose. 
Under the operation of this act, levees have been 
carried up the east bank, nearly as far as Memphis, 
and up the west bank to a point opposite the mouth 
of the Ohio. The peculiarity of the immediate 
banks of the river being higher than the alluvial 
plain, is gharacteristic of the whole course of the 
Lower Mississippi. 

During the Rebellion, the levees, at many points, 
were destroyed as an act of war, and at others, 
were allowed to go to decay; and the result is, 



OUTLETS. 1 1 

that large tracts of land, formerly as fertile as the 
valley of the Nile, have been surrendered up to 
the dominion of the river. To repair these levees 
at public expense, and to give employment to a 
class of people overwhelmed by misfortune, even 
if it be the result of their own rash acts, is a meas- 
ure called for alike by a common humanity and an 
enlightened public policy. 

Contrary to the received opinion, it is found that, 
where the current is confined, it has power to push 
forward its sediment, instead of allowing it to 
deposit on the bottom; so that the necessity will 
not arise of raising the levees higher, with the lapse 
of time. 

Outlets. — The immediate channel of the river, 
after having received the contributions of its main 
affluents, is insufficient to discharge all of the 
waters which, from the drainage of the valley, find 
their way to the ocean. The first point of escape 
is at Cape Girardeau, Missouri, through the St. 
Francis, White, and several other rivers, before 
reaching the mouth of Red River. Here the 
volume of water is greater than at any other 
point; for, a few miles below, there are several 
lateral channels communicatinof with the Gulf. 
These outlets are known as Atchafalaya, which is 
supposed to be the ancient channel of Red River; 



12 THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 

Bayou Manchac, communicating with Lakes 
Maurepas, Ponchartrain, and Borgnej and Bayou 
Plaquemine and Bayou Lafourche. 

Approaches to Neiu Orleans. — Bars exist at 
the mouths of all the passes, so that it is difficult 
for larofe vessels to enter the river. 

The Southeast Pass is apparently not over 2,000 
feet in width, and the ordinary depth of water is 18 
feet. The banks are low and lined with reeds. 
The few houses visible are perched on piles, and 
occupied by pilots, whose services are at all times 
required. There is no tide in the Mississippi, 
owing to its elevation above the Gulf, and its level 
is affected by winds, more than by other causes. 

The Northeast Pass, which formerly was the 
principal one, now carries from 8 to 9 feet of water; 
and this is the depth of the Southwest Pass. 

Another approach is through Barataria Bay, 
which admits of vessels drawing 10 or 12 feet of 
water. The Texas steamers go through the Grand 
Pass, into Vermilion Bay, and thence into Grand 
Lake. The New Orleans and Opelousas Rail- 
way extends to Berwick's Bay, which is the ter- 
minus of the southern steamship lines. The Teche 
is navigable as far as Franklin, which is quite a 
shipping point for sugars. The country to the 
west is high rolling prairie. There is another 



PHENOMENA OF THE WATERS. 1 3 

approach, through Lake Borgne and Pass Rigolet, 
into Ponchartrain, where the depth of water is from 
8 to 15 feet. 

Phenomena of the Waters. — The Upper Missis- 
sippi is as clear as the "arrowy Rhone;" and even 
at St. Louis, sixteen miles below the mouth of the 
Missouri, whose flood is densely charged with sedi- 
ment, the thread between the differently-colored 
waters is distinctly preserved, so reluctant are 
they to commingle. Every one voyaging on the 
Lower Mississippi, must have been struck with the 
character of the current, as though some substance 
of the consistency of tar were boiling and bubbling 
in a great caldron. 

Another feature of this river which has been 
remarked upon, is, that its width is not increased 
by the absorption of any tributary, however large: 
thus, at Rock Island, nearly i,8oo miles from its 
mouth, it is 5,000 feet wide, while at New 
Orleans, and where it enters the Gulf, swollen by 
the volumes of the Missouri, Ohio, Arkansas, and 
Red Rivers, it is dwarfed to 2,470 feet.* Standing 
on the levee at New Orleans, and looking across 
to Algiers on the opposite shore, one can hardly 
believe that within this narrow span is comprised 
the drainage of nearly half a continent. 

* Humphreys and Abbot. 



14 THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 

Geology of the River-Bed. — Its bed, all the 
way from Cairo to the Gulf, is not formed of its 
own alluvium, but is excavated in a tough blue 
clay of Cretaceous origin. By consulting the Geo- 
logical Map, it will be seen that, outside of the 
immediate valley, the Cretaceous rocks extend on 
either side, from the mouth of the Ohio to within 
seventy miles of the Gulf, where they are over- 
lapped by the Tertiaries. There is little doubt of 
the former continuity of these beds, or, in other 
words, that the Cretaceous sea extended from the 
base of the Rocky Mountains to the Atlantic Coast. 
It is evident, therefore, that the course of the Lower 
Mississippi has been determined subsequent to the 
Cretaceous age, since its bed has been excavated 
in this formation. It would further appear that, 
during the Tertiary epoch, there must have been 
an estuary extending as far north as the mouth of 
the Ohio, as indicated by the wedge-shaped body 
of these rocks observed there. Since the erosion 
of its channel to a far greater width than that now 
occupied by its waters, the immediate valley has 
been filled in with other formations; viz., the Loess 
and Recent Alluvium. An ideal section across the 
valley would exhibit the following arrangement of 
the several formations: 



GEOLOGY OF RIVER BED. 1 5 



1. Upper Cretaceous. 3. Loess, or Bluff. 

2. Tertiary (Eocine). 4. Modern Alluvium. 

Pursuing our researches as to the origin of the 
river, it is inferred that it is subsequent to the Ter- 
tiary epoch, since outlying patches of this formation 
cap the summits of some of the hills of Illinois 
far beyond its ancient limits, and all of the asso- 
ciated fossils are of marine origin; thus showing 
that no large body of fresh water was discharged 
at this point into the Tertiary ocean. 

In the deposition of the Loess, however, we have 
evidence that, at that period, the river had assumed 
its present channel, but with a vastly enlarged vol- 
ume of water. The fossils are all of fresh-water 
origin, and of existing species, intermingled with 
quadrupeds, for the most part pachyderms now 
extinct but allied to existing genera,* which indi- 
cate the immediate presence of land under condi- 
tions of soil and vegetation such as now prevail; 

* The fresh-water shells collected by Lyell, from the Loess, consisted 
of Helix, Helicitia, Pupa, Clystoma, Ac/iathia, and Succinca, all iden- 
tical with shells now living; also, shells of the genera Limnea, Planoi- 
bis, Palicduta, P/iysa, and Cyclas. Leidy has identified the following 
quadrupeds : Felis atrox (lion), Ursiis americauus, U. amplidctis, 
Megalonyx Jeffersoni, M. dissimilis, Mylodon harlani, Erepiodon pris- 
cics, Tapirus americanus, T. haysii, Equus americanus, Bootkeriiun 
cavifrofis, Elephas americanus, and Mastodon gigantetis, all extinct; 
and Cervits virginianiis, belonging to si living species. 



l6 THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 

and yet, to account for the present position of the 
Loess, as pointed out by Lyell, we must presuppose 
a vertical movement or upheaval, of two hundred 
and fifty feet. 

At'ea of AUiivium. — A wide belt of Recent 
Alluvium borders the Mississippi from the mouth 
of the Ohio to the Gulf, which is well delineated on 
one of Humphreys and Abbot's maps. This belt, 
in its greatest expansion, at Napoleon, is nearly 75 
miles wide; while in its greatest contraction, at 
Natchez and Helena, it is about 25 miles. The 
area of the tract, above the delta is 19,450 square 
miles. According to the authority above cited, the 
alluvial deposit at Cairo is 25 feet thick; about 35 
feet in the Yazoo swamps; and this thickness is 
maintained as far down as Baton Rouge. The 
borings of the Artesian well at New Orleans, indi- 
cate there a thickness of 40 feet; but at Bayou 
Plaquemine, the alluvial soil does not extend much 
below the level of the Gulf. 

Area of the Delta. — The area of the delta, 
assuminof that it bes^ins where the river sends off 
its first branch to the sea — viz., at the head of 
Bayou Atchafala3-a — is estimated by them at 12,300 
square miles. This would be at the mouth of Red 
River, in latitude 31'', while the mouth of the Great 



DEPTH AND SLOPE. 1 7 

River is now in latitude 29°; thus extending through 
two degrees of space. 

The rate at which the river advances into the 
Gulf is estimated by the same authority, at 262 feet 
per annum; and as its prolongation from its sup- 
posed original mouth is 220 miles, the age of the 
delta is computed at 4,400 years, — a period much 
at variance with the estimates of previous writers. 
That the Mississippi must have been a delta- 
forming river at an earlier period, is evidenced by 
the Loess which occurs along its banks, and 
which, at Natchez, attains a thickness of sixty feet. 

The sediment held in suspension by the river, as 
determined by numerous experiments, is, by weight, 
nearly as i to 1.500; and by bulk, nearly as i to 
2.900. The mean annual discharge of water is 
assumed at 19,500,000,000,000 cubic feet; hence, it 
follows that 812,500,000,000 pounds of sedimentary 
matter — equal to one square mile of deposit, 241 
feet in depth — are yearly transported, in a state of 
suspension, into the Gulf.* 

Depth and Slope. — The maximum depth of 
the Mississippi, as indicated by Humphreys and 
Abbot's tables, is, at Natchez, 118 feet; and the 
mean depth from below the mouth of the Arkansas 
to Red River, is 96 feet. The least low-water 

* Humphreys and Abbot, " Physics of the Mississippi." 



l8 THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 

depths on the bars are: at St. Louis, 2 feet; Mem- 
phis, 5 feet; and Natchez, 6 feet. The range 
between low and high-water is: at Rock Island, 
16 feet; at the mouth of the Missouri, 35 feet; at 
St. Louis, 37 feet; at Cairo, 51 feet; at Carrolton, 
14 feet; and at the head of the Passes, 2.3 feet. 

The fall of the Lower Mississippi is about nfo of 
a foot per mile; of the Ohio, tVo of a foot; of the 
Missouri, below Fort Union, AV of a foot; and of 
the Upper Mississippi, below St. Paul, iSh of a 
foot. 

EARTHQUAKE- ACTION IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLET. 

( The series of earthquake-shocks which occurred 
in the Mississippi Valley, commencing near the 
y close of 1811, and continuing to 1813, were of 
sufficient violence to modify its surface to a con- 
siderable extent, creating yawning fissures, and 
converting dry land into lakes, some of which 
are fifty miles in circumference. 1 The telluric 
activity of which these events were a part, extended 
over half a hemisphere, and was manifested in a 
series of stupendous phenomena, such as the eleva- 
tion of the island of Sabrina, one of the group 
of the Azores, to the height of 320 feet above the 
sea; the destruction of Caraccas, with 10,000 of 
its inhabitants; the eruption of the volcano of St. 
Vincent; and the fearful subterranean noises which 



EARTHQUAKE-ACTION. 1 9 

were heard on the Llanos of Calabazo, and at the 
mouth of the Rio Apure, and even far out at sea. 

New Madrid, in the State of Missouri, and in 
the valley of the Mississippi, appears to have been 
one of the foci of this earthquake disturbance; and 
the shocks were repeated almost every hour for 
months in succession. Fortunately, the town as 
well as the surrounding region, was sparsely inhab- 
ited, and the houses (log cabins) were of a char- 
acter little liable to be toppled over; but, so far as 
we can gather from the published accounts, and 
the personal recollections of those who were eye- 
witnesses of the scenes, we are satisfied that, if 
the same severity of shocks were to occur at this 
day, at St. Louis or Cincinnati, the destruction of 
life would be appalling, and those cities would 
become an undistinguishable mass of ruins. 

Several years ago, in voyaging from Memphis to 
Cairo, I made the acquaintance of Mr. A. N. 
Dillard, who resided in the region of these disturb- 
ances, and who was a witness of the events which 
I shall record. 

It was on the night of the i6th of December, 
i8 1 1, that the first shock occurred. The weather 
had been warm and pleasant, and the air was filled 
with that peculiar haze characteristic of the Indian 
summer, except that it was more damp. About 
midnight, while the French, who constituted the 



20 THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 

bulk of the population at New Madrid, were 
engaged in dancing and frolicking, the first shock 
came on, and was of sufficient violence to shake 
down many of the houses and fences. The greatest 
consternation prevailed. The entire population 
rushed into the open air; and there, in the midnight 
darkness, and upon the rocking earth, Protestant 
and Catholic, side by side, 

" knelt down, 
And offered to the Mightiest " 

solemn supplication; — for, in that fearful hour, 
human aid was unavailing. 

" The shocks," my informant continued, 
" extended over a period of twenty or thirty 
months. Sometimes, they would come on gradu- 
ally, and finally culminate; again, they would come 
without premonition, and in terrific force, and grad- 
ually subside. 

" In every instance the motion was propagated 
from the west or southwest. Fissures would be 
formed, six hundred and even seven hundred feet 
in length, and twenty or thirty feet in breadth, 
through which water and sand would spout out to 
the height of forty feet. There issued no burning 
flames, but flashes such as result from the explo- 
sion of gas, or from the passage of the electrical 
fluid from one cloud to another. I have seen oak 



EARTHQUAKE- ACTION. 21 

trees, which would be split in the centre and forty 
feet up the trunk, one part standing on one side of 
a fissure, and the other part on the other; and trees 
are now standing which have been cleft in this 
manner. 

" My grandfather had received a boat-load of 
castings from Pittsburgh, which were stored in his 
cellar. During one of the shocks, the ground 
opened immediately under the house, and they 
were swallowed up, and no trace of them was 
afterwards obtained. 

" I regard the region as still subject to these 
agitations. A few years ago, I saw the effects 
sufficiently violent to shake the bark off the trees, 
and to sway their tops to and fro. 

"The region of the St. Francis is peculiar. I have 
trapped there for thirty years. There is a great 
deal of sunken land, caused by the earthquakes of 
1811. There are large trees of walnut, white oak, 
and nmlberry, such as grow on high land, which 
are now seen submerg-ed ten and twentv feet 
beneath the water. In some of the lakes, I have 
seen cypresses so far beneath the surface, that, with 
a canoe, I have paddled among the branches. Pre- 
vious to the earthquakes, keel-boats used to come 
up the St. Francis River, and pass into the Missis- 
sippi, at a point three miles below New Madrid. 
The bayou is now high ground." 



22 THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 

From one of the fissures formed during these 
convulsions, was ejected the cranium of an extinct 
musk-ox {^Bootherium bombifrons)^ now in the 
possession of the Lyceum of Natural History of 
New York. 

/ Reel-foot Lake, on the opposite shore, in Obion 
county, Tennessee, nearly twenty miles long and 
seven broad, owes its origin to the sinking of the 
ground during this period. / The trunks of dead 
cypresses are seen standing in the water; and the 
fisherman, as he plies his occupation in his canoe, 
floats above their branching tops. 

Timothy Flint visited this region seven years 
after the occurrence of these terrible events, at a 
time when the recollections of the inhabitants were 
yet vivid. As the work in which he recorded his 
information has become rare, I may be pardoned 
for transcribing his graphic account almost entire: 

"From all the accounts," he says, "corrected one by another, 
and compared with the very imperfect narratives which were 
published, I infer that the shock of these earthquakes, in the 
immediate center of their force, must have equaled, in the 
terrible heavings of the earth, any thing of the kind that has 
been recorded. I do not believe that the public have ever yet 
had any adequate idea of the violence of the concussions. We 
are accustomed to measure this by the buildings overturned 
and the mortality that results. Here, the country was thinly 
settled. The houses, fortunately, were frail, and of logs, — the 
most difficult to overturn that could be constructed. Yet, as it 
was, whole tracts were plunged in the bed of the river. The 
grave-yard at New Madrid, with all its sleeping tenants, was 



EARTHQUAKE-ACTION. 23 

precipitated into the bend of the stream. Most of the houses 
were thrown down. Large lakes, twenty miles in extent, were 
made in an hour ; other lakes were drained. The whole 
country, to the mouth of the Ohio in one direction, and to the 
St. Francis in the other, including a front of three hundred 
miles, was convulsed to such a degree as to create lakes and 
islands, the number of which is not known, and to cover a tract 
of many miles in extent, near the Little Prairie, with water, 
three or four feet deep ; and when the water disappeared, a 
stratum of sand, of the same thickness, was left in the place. 
Trees split in the midst, and lashed one witli another, are still 
visible over great tracts of country, inclining in every direction, 
and at every angle to the earth and the horizon. They 
described the undulations of the earth as resembling waves, 
increasing in elevation as they advanced, and when they had 
attained a certain fearful height, the earth would burst, and 
vast volumes of water, and sand, and pit-coal were discharged 
as high as the tops of the trees. I have seen a hundred of these 
chasms which remained fearfully deep, although in a very 
tender alluvial soil, and after a lapse of seven years. Whole 
disb'icts were covered with white sand, so as to become unin- 
habitable. The water at first covered the whole country, par 
ticularly at the Little Prairie ; and it must, indeed, have been 
a scene of horror, in these deep forests, and in the gloom of the 
darkest night, and by wading in the water to tlie middle, for 
the inhabitants to fly from these concussions, which were 
occurring every few hours, with a noise equally terrible to 
beasts and birds, as to man. The birds themselves lost all 
power and disposition to fly, and retreated to the bosoms 
of men, their fellow-suflerers in the general convulsion. A 
few persons sank in these chasms, and were providentially 
extricated. One person died of affright ; and one perished 
miserably on an island which retained its original level in 
the midst of a wide lake created by the earthquake. * * 
* * * * A number perished, who sank with their 
boats in the river. A bursting of the earth just below the vil- 
lage of New Madrid, arrested the miglity stream in its course, 
and caused a reflux of its waves, by which, in a little time, a 



24 THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 

great number of boats were swept by the ascending current 
into the mouth of the bayou, carried out, and left upon the dry 
earth, where the accumuhiting waters of the river had agam 
changed the current. There were a great number of severe 
shocks, but two series of concussions were particularly terri- 
ble, far more so than the rest ; and they remark that the 
shocks were clearly distinguishable into two classes : those in 
which the motion was horizontal, and those in which it was 
perpendicular. The latter were attended with the explosions 
and the terrible mixture of noises that preceded and accompa- 
nied the earthquakes in a louder degree, but were by no means 
so desolating and destructive as the other. When they were 
felt, the houses crumljled, and trees waved together, and the 
ground sank, and all the distructive plienomena were conspic- 
uous. In the interval of the earthquakes, there was one even- 
ing — and that a brilliant and cloudless one — in which the 
western sky was a continued glare of vivid flashes of lightning 
and of repeated peals of subterranean thunder, seeming to 
proceed, as the flashes did, from below the horizon. They 
remark that the night, so conspicuous for subterranean thun- 
der, was the same period in which the fatal earthquakes of 
Caraccas occurred ; and they seem to suppose those flashes 
and that event parts of the same scene." * 

Flint confirms the observations of others, that 
the chasms in the earth were in a direction from 
southwest to northeast, and were of an extent to 
swallow up not only men but houses; and that 
they frequently occurred in intervals of half a mile. 
The people felled the tallest trees at right angles to 
these chasms, and placed themselves upon their 
trunks, by which precaution many escaped destruc- 



* "Recollections of the Last Ten Years in the Mississippi Valley." 
(1826.^ P. 224 



EARTHQUAKE-ACTION. 25 

tion^ for more than once the earth opened beneath, 
and would have engulfed them in the abyss. 

So great was the destruction of property, and so 
irretrievably ruined were many of the farms by 
this series of events, that Congress, at a subsequent 
day, passed a law granting to each proprietor who 
had sustained serious loss, a section of land in what 
was known as the Boone-Lick country, on condition 
of his relinquishing his desolated farm to the Gov- 
ernment. 

Earthquake shocks yet occur in this region, and 
blasts of air and gas yet find their way to the sur- 
face through many of the half-filled fissures, but 
there has been no repetition of the terrible phe- 
nomena witnessed in 1811-12. 



CHAPTER II. 

MOUNTAINS AND PLAINS. 

CHARACTER OF THE WATER-SHEDS THE APPALACHIAN 

RANGE THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS THE SIERRA NEVADA 

THE CASCADE RANGE THE COAST RANGES RIDGES OF 

THE GREAT BASIN CHARACTER OF THE SOURCES OF THE 

MISSOURI OF THE OHIO VALLEY OF THE MISSISSIPPI 

VALLEY THE LLANO ESTACADO ROCKY-MOUNTAIN VAL- 
LEYS COLORADO DESERT VALLEY OF THE ST. LAWRENCE 

PACIFIC RAILROAD ROUTES RESUME. 

Character of the Water-Sheds. — The Valley of 
the Mississippi may be regarded as a table-land 
between two diverging coast ranges — the Rocky 
and Appalachian Mountains, — with a slope on three 
sides towards the line of greatest depression occu- 
pied by the current of the river. The Ohio, at 
Pittsburgh, is 704 feet above the ocean; the water- 
shed between Lake Michigan and the Illinois River 
is only 8 feet; the sources of the Mississippi, 
about 1,600; the sources of the Missouri, about 
6,800 feet; the South Pass (source of the Sweet- 
water), 7,489 feet; Fort Bridger, 7,254 feet; and 
the divide between the Canadian and Pecos Rivers, 



APPALACHIAN RANGE. 27 

about 5,543 feet. The elevations on the Western 
rim of the Basin, are attained by an inclined plane so 
slight that, in traversing it, the eye scarcely notices 
any deviation from a nearly uniform level. The 
ascent even to the South Pass, higher than that of 
Simplon or St. Gothard over the Alps, is so grad- 
ual that Fremont had to watch very closely to 
detect the culminating point. 

The Appalachiaji Range. — This range, w^hich 
divides the Atlantic slope from the Mississippi 
Valley, extends from Northern Alabama to the 
mouth of the St. Lawrence — a distance of more 
than 1,200 miles, — with a mean height of about 
2,000 feet, and in a direction northeast and south- 
west. The culminating points, as determined by 
Guyot, are: Clingman's Peak, in the Black Moun- 
tains of North Carolina, being 6,702 feet; and Mt. 
Washington, in the White Mountains of New 
Hampshire, being 6,285 feet. 

The Appalachian range does not exhibit a central 
axis, but, as first shown by the Rogerses, consists of 
a series of convex and concave flexures, giving rise 
to alternate ridge and valley, and affording few 
scenes of bold and rugged outline. 

" The characteristic features," say they, "of the Appalachian 
ridges, ai^e : their gi-eat length, narrowness, and steepness, the 
evenness of their summits, and their remarkable parallelism. 



28 MOUNTAINS AND PLAINS. 

Many of them are almost perfectly straight for a distance of 
more than fifty miles ; and this feature, combined with their 
steep slopes and sharp level summits, gives them the appear- 
ance, seen in perspective, of so many colossal entrenchments. 
Some groups of them are curved ; but the outlines of all are 
marked by soft transitions and an astonishing degree of regu- 
larity. It is, rather, the number and great length of the ridges, 
and the magnitude of the belt which they constitute, than their 
individual height or grandeur, that places this chain among the 
great mountain systems of the world. * * * The rocks 
consist of the older metamorphic strata, including gneiss, and 
micaceous, chlorite, talcose, and argillaceous schists, together 
with masses referable to the earliest Appalachian formations." * 

Flanking these ranges on the west, and cotermi- 
nous with them in direction, is the Great Appala- 
chian Valley, known by various local names. Its 
average width is about fifteen miles, and through- 
out it forms a nearly level plain. 

Beyond this, to the northwest, and embracing an 
assemblage of rocks below the Coal-measures, is a 
series of long parallel ridges, which reach to the 
Cumberland and Alleghany Mountains, having a 
breadth of from thirty to sixty miles. 

The northwestern portion of the Appalachian 
system Is composed of what are known as the 
Alleghany and Cumberland Mountains, which are 
not protracted northeasterly beyond Southern New 
York. They embrace the Carboniferous series of 
rocks, and are about thirt3'-five miles in breadth. 

While the general direction of the system is north- 

* "Transactions of the American Association of Geolosrists." 



APPALACHIAN RANGE. 29 

east and southwest, there is a remarkable predomi- 
nance of southeast dips throughout its entire length 
from Canada to Alabama, particularly along the 
southeastern or most disturbed side of the belt; but 
as we proceed towards the northwest, or remote 
from the region of greatest disturbance, the oppo- 
site or northwest dips, which previously were of 
rare occurrence, and always very steep, become 
progressively more numerous, and, as a general 
rule, more gentle, until they finally flatten down to 
an almost horizontality of the strata. 

The Rogerses suppose that the movement 
which produced the permanent flexures " was 
compounded of a wave-like oscillation, and a tan- 
gential or horizontal pressure,, both propagated 
northwestward across the disturbed belt, as indi- 
cated by the oblique character of nearly all the 
anticlinal and synclinal curves, both those which 
are closely folded and those which are obtuse;" 
and, resorting to forces now in operation for an 
explanation of these phenomena, they find analo- 
gies in the wave-like undulation of the surface, 
which occurs and is propagated over large areas 
during the throes and convulsions of the earth- 
quake, as manifested in our time.* 

* "Physical Structure of the Appalachian Chain," ("Trans. Amer. 
Association Geologists and Naturalists,") by Profs. Wm. B. and Henry 
D. Rogers. 

It is desirable that there be recognized a division of the Appalachian 



30 MOUNTAINS AND PLAINS. 

The Rocky Mountains, — The numerous ridges 
bounding the Great Valley on the west, pursue a 
general direction north of west and south of east, 
and are a part of a long axial line which extends 
almost uninterruptedly from Cape Horn to Behring's 
Straits, where, conforming to the great circle of 
the earth, it is protracted south, as first pointed out 
by Erman, through Western Asia, and terminates 
in Sumatra, — the whole length extending through 
240° of latitude, or 18,560 miles.'^ In the United 
States, the Rocky Mountains extend from latitude 
31° 30' to 49°, and from longitude 102° to 122^°, 
and embrace an area of more than 100,000 square 
miles. Their greatest width — between San Fran- 
cisco and Fort Laramie — is 1,000 miles. In this 
area are included portions of Dakota, Montana, 
Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, 
Arizona, California, Nevada, Oregon, and Wash- 
ington. This vast assemblage of mountains is 

Chain — a division founded on a difference in geological structure, and 
consequently on physical aspect. Let that portion which is charac- 
terized by the presence of crystalline and metamorphic rocks, and 
embracing the Unaka or Smoky Mountains of North Carolina, the 
Blue Ridge of Virginia and Pennsylvania, the Green Mountains of 
Vermont, and the White Mountains of New Hampshire, receive the 
generic name oi Apfalachian Chain; while that portion characterized 
by the coal-bearing rocks, and known as the Cumberland Mountains 
of Tennessee, and their extension into Virginia and Pennsylvania, 
retain the generic name of Allcghanies. 

* Lieutenant (now General) Warren, " Pacific Railroad Survey," 
Vol. XI. 



THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 3 1 

made up of several distinct chains, and will doubt- 
less be found to consist of several distinct systems 
of upheaval. Sometimes they form central groups 
from which radiate subordinate branches, and again 
they present an endless maze of rugged flanks, with 
bare peaks sharply defined against the sky, and 
rising high above the line of vegetation into the 
region of perpetual snow. 

It is between the parallels 40° and 41°, that they 
attain their greatest altitude and put on their stern- 
est aspect; and as they range northward they sink 
down and become less serrated in contour. The 
most conspicuous peaks are: Fremont's, in the 
Wind-river Chain, (13,570); Long's Peak, in the 
North Park, (14,216); Gray's Peak, (14,245) ; and 
Spanish Peak is supposed to be equally high. 
These determinations, which differ somewhat from 
former ones, were recently made by Parry and 
Engelmann. To the south, the Raton Mountains 
project far into the plain. On the 35th° parallel 
there are two conspicuous landmarks, known as 
Mount Taylor or San Mateo, estimated at 11,000 
feet, and San Francisco Mountain, estimated at 
12,000 feet. All of these peaks are volcanic, and 
their elevation is among the most recent of geologi- 
cal events. 

To the east, the plains along the parallel of the 
South Pass, are 6,000 feet above the sea-level. The 



32 MOUNTAINS AND PLAINS. 

western rim of the Great Basin is elevated 8,200 
feet, while the Basin itself is 6,234 feet. To the 
north, about the sources of the Columbia, the 
mountains attain an altitude of from 7,000 to 8,000 
feet above the sea, and are not snow-clad the year 
round.* 

Many observers, like Warren and Abbot, looking 
at the topographical rather than the geological fea- 
tures of the region, have failed to recognize any 
thing like parallelism in the several chains. The 
Rocky Mountains, like the Alps, will doubtless be 
found to be intersected by numerous lines conform- 
ing to the great circle of the earth; but to develop 
those lines will be the work of long and patient 
investigation. The great frame-work of the region, 
we have reason to believe, was laid in a direction 
of N.N. W. and S.S.E.; but that frame-work has 
been repeatedly shattered, and the strata displaced, 
by more modern volcanic eruptions, the evidences 
of which exist almost every where throughout the 
whole region. 

Topographers have laid down the trend of moun- 
tains and valleys, and of lakes and rivers, without 
comprehending the full import of apparently con- 

* The following are some of the subordinate groups composing the 
Rocky Mountains : Bitter-Root, Coeur d'Alene, Kootanie, Salmon- 
River, Rocky Mountains (proper), Wind-River, The Parks, Raton, 
Santa Fe, Sandia, Manzana, Organ, Gaudalupe, Hucco, San Juan, 
Chusca, and Sierra Madre. 



THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 33 

forming lines; but geologists, following in their 
\vake, and carefully studying the strata which have 
been disturbed by these lines, resulting from igneous 
invasions, have been enabled to eliminate some of 
the grandest deductions in physical science. Let 
any student of structural geography plat upon a 
map the outlines of the great Appalachian and 
Illinois coal-fields; let him then examine the river- 
systems in connection with the mountain-systems 
of North America, and he will see that these topo- 
graphical features are not the result of accidental 
upheaval, but of forces acting over vast areas, and 
in determinate directions, — evincing that, even 
amid apparently chaotic materials, there was still a 
presiding spirit of law and order. 

It must be ever borne in mind that, between the 
Mississippi Valley and the Pacific Slope, there is a 
great swelling of the land, in an axial form, or a 
series of axes, to the height of from 5,000 to 7,000 
feet; and from this elevated plateau, as in the 
Andes, the Caucasus in Central Asia, and other 
mountainous districts, rise still loftier ranges, 
various in direction and in age. Humboldt has 
pointed out this notable fact which has been 
ignored by less skillful physicists: 

" The arrangement of tliese partial groups," he remarks, 
" erupted from fissures not parallel to each other, is in its bear- 
ings for the most part independent of the ideal axis which may 
be drawn through the entire swell of the undulating flattened 
3 



34 MOUNTAINS AND PLAINS. 

ridge. These remarkable features in the formation of the soil 
give rise to a deception which is strengthened by the pictorial 
effect of this beautiful country. The colossal mountains, cov- 
ered with perpetual snow, seem, as it were, to rise out of a 
plain. The spectator confounds the ridge of the soft-swelling 
land, the elevated plain, with the plain of the low lands ; and 
it is only from the change of climate, the lowering of the tem- 
perature, under the same degree of latitude, that he is reminded 
of the height to which he has ascended." (This swelling of 
the soil belongs to a different epoch from the rampart-like 
chains with wliich it is crowned.) " The immense swelling 
of the surface of land," he continues, "which goes on increas- 
ing in breadth towards the north and northwest, is continuous 
from tropical Mexico to Oregon ; and on this swelling or ele- 
vated plain, which is itself the great geognostic phenomenon, 
separate groups of mountains, running often in varying direc- 
tions, rise over fissures which have been formed more recently 
and at different periods. These sjtperimposcd groups of moun- 
tains — which, however, in the Rocky Mountains, are for an 
extent of 8° of latitude connected together almost like a 
rampart, and rendered visible to a great distance by conical 
mountains, chiefly trachyte, from 10,000 to 13,000 feet high, — 
produce an impression on the mind of the traveler which is 
only the more profound from the circumstance that the elevated 
plateau wliich stretches far and wide around him, assumes in 
his eyes the appearance of a plain of the level country. Though 
in reference to the Cordilleras of South America, a considera- 
ble part of which is known to me by personal inspection, we 
speak of double and triple ranges, we must not forget that even 
here, the directions of the separate ranges of mountain-groups, 
whether in long ridges or in separate domes, are by no means 
parallel, either to one another, or in direction to the entire 
swell of the land." * 

The Sierra Nevada or Snowy Ra^ige forms 
the western rim of the Great Basin, and is more 

* " Cosmos," Vol. v., Art. " Volcanoes." 



SIERRA NEVADA. 



3S 



'rugged and rises to loftier elevations than any other 
mountain-chain in the United States. The Sierra 
itself is a granitic crest, pursuing a course of about 
N. 30° W., flanked by metamorphic shales and 
sandstones. The culminating points are between 
the parallels ^6"" and 37° of latitude. Mount Silli- 
man, as determined by the Geological Survey of 
California, is in height 11,623 ^eet; Mount Brewer, 
13,886; Mount Tyndall, 14,386; and Mount Whit- 
ney, 15,000 feet, — probably the highest point of 
land in the United States. 

The volcanic cones which have been lifted up 
since the Sierra Nevada assumed its direction, have 
an elevation little inferior. The Shasta Butte, as 
determined by Whitney, rises 14,440 feet, and 
Lassen's Peak is 10,577 feet. 

The strata of Triassic age, metamorphosed and 
tilted, pursue a direction along the foot-hills of 
the Sierra Nevada of great uniformity, and the 
Cretaceous and Miocine tertiary are observed to 
rest undisturbed upon their upturned edges until 
traced to the vicinitv of Shasta, where it is found 
that the continuity of the former is interrupted, and 
the latter are lifted up at high angles, thus showing 
that the volcanic action which elevated this butte 
was subsequent in age to that which formed the 
Snowy Mountains, and operated in a diflercnt line 
of direction. 



36 MOUNTAINS AND PLAINS. 

The Cascade Range. — This range pursues a- 
course nearly north and south, and is characterized 
by a series of lofty volcanic cones, among which 
are Mount St. Helen's, estimated by Dana at 16,000 
feet; Mount Hood, 11,225 feet, as recently deter- 
mined by Williamson; Mounts Jefferson and 
Adams, unmeasured; Mount Rainier, (according 
to Johnson) 12,330 feet; and Mounts Olympus and 
Baker, unmeasured. It is probable that the esti- 
mated height of St. Helen's is exaggerated; so 
that it is still doubtful whether any peak in the 
United States overtops Mount Blanc (15,810 feet). 
Most of these peaks have trachytic cones, which 
were ignited up to a recent period; and the peperino 
and scoriae which have been ejected from these 
vents cover large areas of country, and effectually 
conceal the fundamental rocks. 

The Coast Ranges. — According to Antisell,* 
these ranges exhibit a remarkable parallelism, and 
show unmistakable evidence of ancient volcanic 
action. Their general direction is N. 70° W.; but 
Whitney gives N. 54° W. as the strike of the 
Mount Diablo Range. They have, in their course 
north of San Francisco, some lofty peaks, but the 
chains are short and ill-deffned. San Francisco itself 
reposes on Cretaceous strata. South of the city, 

* " Pacific Railroad Report " Vol. VI. 



THE GREAT BASIN. 37 

the ranges preserve much uniformity through 4° of 
latitude, until, in the vicinity of Fort Tejon, they 
become blended w^ith those of the Sierra Nevada, 
and are prolonged into the sea at San Louis Bay. 

Monte Diablo, which stands as a sentinel over 
the approach to the Golden Gate, is, according to 
Whitney, 3,856 feet high; Mount Hamilton, 4,440 
feet; and Mount Carlos, 4,977 feet. 

The elevation of the Coast Ranges above the 
sea-level was an event subsequent in time to that 
of the Sierra Nevada, since it brought up and meta- 
morphosed into jaspery materials the sandstones 
and shales of the Cretaceous and Miocine-tertiar}?' 
series w^hich now form the wall of the Pacific Coast. 
This uplift may be regarded as one of the most 
recent of the dynamical events which has deter- 
mined the outlines of the continent. 

T/ie Great Basin. — This remarkable plateau is 
elevated about 4,500 feet above the sea-level, and 
is traversed by successive ridges running north and 
south, which preserve a considerable degree of 
parallelism. These ridges are generally short and 
ill-defined, and some of them are a deviation from 
the general course which characterizes the Rocky 
Mountains. Thus, the Humboldt Range bears N. 
20° E., and the Uintah Range runs east and west. 

Within this basin is contained the Washoe 



38 MOUNTAINS AND PLAINS. 

Mountains, which inchide the famous Comstock 
silver-lode. These mountains, according to Baron 
Richtholen, are separated from the steep slope of 
the Sierra Nevada by a continuous meridional 
depression marked by the deep basins of Truckee 
Valley, Washoe Valley, and Carson Valley. 
Though irregular, a general direction may be 
traced in the summit range from north to south, 
w^here it slopes down to a smooth table-land, trav- 
ersed from west to east by the Carson River flow- 
ing in a narrow crevice, beyond which the Washoe 
Range is protracted in the more elevated Pine-Nut 
Mountains. The culminating point of the range is 
Mount Davidson, whose elevation, as determined 
by Whitney, is 7,827 feet. Virginia City is 6,205, 
Washoe Lake is 5,006 feet, and Dayton 4,490 feet. 

"The aspect of the Washoe Mountains," remarks the Baron, 
" is exceedingly barren ; so is the view from Virginia over the 
hilly country to the east. Yet there is a remarkable grandeur 
and sublimity in it. The air is extraordinarily pure and trans- 
parent, so as to allow every gulch and declivity in the slope of 
mountains a hundred miles oft' to be distinguished. The eye 
wanders over an unbroken desert, where barren hills alternate 
with sandy basins. There is no beauty in this scenery, but it 
has a strange charm ; the constant enjoyment of the distant 
view is a redeeming feature of life in Virginia." * 

In the report of the expedition under Governor 
Blasdel to Pahranagat, in Southeastern Nevada, 

* " Report on the Comstock Lode," by Ferdinand Baron Richthofen. 



THE MISSOURI RIVER. 39 

the chief features of the country are noted: the 
paralleHsm of the mountain ranges, which are 
nearly northwest and southeast; wide valleys, often 
covered with artemisia, and often bare of all vege- 
tation; the presence of volcanic overflows along 
the foot-hills; the entire absence of timber, the 
only wood being mezquite bushes near the springs; 
great scarcity of water; the occurrence of wide 
gravel washes at the mouths of the caiions; and a 
general air of sterility and desolation pervading the 
whole region. 

CHARACTER OF THE MAIN VALLEYS. 

The Missouri River is the longest affluent of 
the Mississippi — though the volume of water dis- 
charged is not so great as that of the Ohio, — and 
by reason of its length ought to be regarded as the 
main stream. It has its sources in longitude 112° 
and latitude 47°, where they nearly interlock with 
those of the Columbia, — the only river which rises 
in the Rocky Mountains and breaks through the 
Coast Ranges, in the vast extent from British 
Columbia to Mexico. Standing on the summit at 
any point. Captain Mullan remarks, you can see 
the waters that flow into the two oceans; and no 
where on the continent do we find such a perfect 
net-w^ork of water-courses.. Amid an innumerable 



40 MOUNTAINS AND PLAINS. 

number of sheltered valleys found embosomed in 
the mountains, stock can graze on the hill-sides in 
winter, without forage being provided for them; 
and here the Indians, during that season, find abid- 
ing places. 

" When we reach," he continues, " the Great Falls, there 
for thirteen miles, the river, in a series of cascades, falls, chutes, 
and rapids, has a total fall of three hundred and eighty feet. 
The land to the north, and for four or five miles back from the 
river, is much broken by coulees and ravines ; but to the south, 
and distant three miles, the country is a flat plain." * 

After leaving this region, according to Hum- 
phreys, the streams flow through almost treeless 
plains. Near the foot-hills, the soil is good, and 
receives a greater supply of moisture than the 
region further east. Extending to longitude 97°, 
and thence southward, there is a belt of country 
which, without putting on the features of a desert, 
has yet an aspect of sterility not to be mistaken. 
The meteorological conditions (deficiency of moist- 
ure), and the nature of the soil (alternations of sand 
and clay), render it unfit for agricultural purposes. 
The soil produces luxuriant grapes in the spring, 
but in the dry season the sun withers the vegeta- 
tion, and parches, bakes, and cracks, the clayey 
surface; a process which gives it not only a sterile 

* Mullan, "Address before Geographical Society," N. Y. 
t Hui-pphreys, " Pacific Railroad Survey," Vol. I. 



SOURCES OF THE MISSOURI. 4I 

aspect, but renders it uiicultivable.f This region 
is known as the Mauvaises Terres^ or Bad Lands. 

The Yellowstone is the principal affluent of the 
Missouri, whose volume, as estimated by General 
Warren, is as large as that which is considered the 
main stream; and Jefferson, Madison, and Gallatin 
Forks, are by no means inconsiderable rivers. 

The country drained by these tributaries, accord- 
ing to Mullan, before quoted, is among the most 
beautiful to be found west of the Mississippi, — 
gently undulating prairie, dotted here and there 
with clumps of timber. All the streams are fringed 
with forest growth, the soil is rich, the climate mild 
and invigorating, and here exist all of the elements 
for happy homes. 

That portion of Oregon and Washington Terri- 
tory west of the Coast Range, and bounding the 
Pacific, with the exception of the meadow or prai- 
rie bottoms, is a dense forest, timbered with fir, 
pine, and oak. The lumber trade is large; and is 
maintained with China, Japan, Australia, and the 
Sandwich Islands. The finest spar and mast tim- 
ber is here found, and is sent to the ship-3'ards of 
France and England.* 

The Columbia is navigable for four hundred and 
fifty miles from its mouth to South Fork, subject, 
however, to two interruptions by falls, around 

* "Address before the Geographical Societj," N. Y. 



42 MOUNTAINS AND PLAINS. 

which raih-oads have been constructed; and there 
is a project to extend its navigation to Fort Boise, 
three hundred miles further, and reach the heart 
of Idaho. 

Thus the vision of the poet has passed away. 
Those deep solitudes, 

" Where rolls the Oregon, and hears no sound 
Save its own dashings," 

have become the abodes of an active population, 
and the river itself is made the great highway to 
the interior of a continent. 

The Ohio Basin is so well known that a brief 
description will suffice. It is diversified by hills 
of no great elevation, and by valleys of no great 
width. The rocks are of sedimentary origin, and 
but slightly metamorphosed ; so that almost every 
where, from their yielding nature, the hills present 
rounded outlines, and are cultivable to their sum- 
mits. The valleys are fertile, and abundantly 
watered by running streams. The surface, with 
the exception of a few wet prairies, was originally 
clothed with magnificent forests of several species 
of the oak, together with black walnut, hickory, 
sugar maple, and the liliodendron; while the under- 
growth was composed of azaleas, rhododendrons, 
and many creeping plants; — altogether presenting 
a diversity of vegetable forms rarely to be seen 



SOURCES OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 43 

over an equal area on other portions of the earth's 
surface. 

The Sources of the Upper Mississippi are 
among the great forests of conifers, white birches, 
and aspens — subarctic types — which continue 
north, but dwarfed in stature, until the limits of 
arborescent vegetation are reached; and its mouth 
is in the region of the orange, the magnolia, and 
even the palm, — thus approaching the verge of 
tropical forms. A navigable river, flowing through 
a region so diversitied in climate and productions, 
can not but become the source of a vast inland 
commerce. ) 

Its central portion is through a magnificent region 
of alternate forest and prairie. The vegetation of 
the latter is largely represented by the Compositce. 
This belt, so far from being restricted to the Missis- 
sippi Valley, extends southwesterly through the 
Osage and Cherokee countries, and is prolonged 
into Western Texas, constituting the best agricul- 
tural region of the United States, where the condi- 
tions of soil and climate are well adapted to the 
cultivation of those plants useful to man. 

Captain (now General) Pope thus describes the 
region : 

" By fai- the richest and most beautiful district of country I 
have ever seen, in Texas or elsewhere, is that watered by the 



44 MOUNTAINS AND PLAINS. 

Trinity and its tributaries. Occupying, east and west, a belt 
of one hundred miles in width, with about equal quantities of 
prairie and timber, intersected by numerous clear, fresh streams 
and countless springs, with a gently undulating surface of prai- 
rie and oak openings, it presents the most charming views, as 
of a country in a high state of cultivation ; and you are startled 
at the summit of each swell of a prairie, into a prospect of 
groves, parks, and forests, with intervening plains of luxuriant 
grass, over which the eye in vain wanders in search of the 
white village or the stately house, which seem alone wanting 
to the scene." * 



Leaving this beautiful country and proceeding 
westward, the traveler enters one of the most deso- 
late portions of the United States, known as the 
Llano Estacado, or the Staked Plain, — a treeless 
plateau, elevated 4,000 feet above the sea, a hun- 
dred miles or more in breadth, and stretching from 
the Canadian to beyond the northern confines of 
Mexico, unbroken by a single peak, and underlaid 
by nearly horizontal strata of red clay and gypsum. 
It is without wood or water. For thirty miles east 
of the Pecos, the surface is hard, and covered wnth 
grama grass; and from thence to a point about 
thirty miles west of the Colorado of Texas, the 
hard surface alternates with patches of dark-red 
sand, covered with coarse bunch-grass. The Llano 
Estacado presents no inducements to cultivation.f 

* " Pacific Railroad Surveys," Vol. III. 

t Poi^e, " Pacific Railroad Surveys," Vol. 11. 



ROCKY-MOUNTAIN VALLEYS. 45 

Rocky- Motmtain Valleys. — Between Great-Salt 
Lake and the base of the Sierra Nevada — a space, 
according to Humphreys, of 500 miles — the coun- 
try consists of alternations of mountains and plains, 
the latter gradually rising from the lake to the base 
of the Humboldt" that is, from 4,200 feet to 6,000 
feet above the sea. The mountains are sharp, 
rocky, and generally inaccessible, and rise from 
1,500 to 3,000 feet above the valleys. The greater 
part of these valleys are sparsely sprinkled with 
several varieties of artemisia, presenting the aspect 
of a dreary waste ; but on the flanks of some of the 
mountains, which are more liberally supplied with 
moisture from the meltins; snows, grama o^rass 
flourishes. Immediately west of Great-Salt Lake, 
there is a desert plain of clay and sand, impregnated 
with salt, seventy miles in width, and extending 
through five degrees of longitude. 

The southern rim of the Great Basin is not 
hemmed in by any great mountain range, but is 
formed by a gradual swell of the plain, traversed by 
detached ranges, whose passes are only 400 or 500 
feet above the general level, thus preventing the 
drainage into the Pacific. This water-shed sepa- 
rates the Great Basin from the Colorado Valley, 
the most desolate portion of the United States. 



46 MOUNTAINS AND PLAINS. 

The Colorado Desert. — This desert, according 
to Blake,^ extends from the base of San Bernardino 
Pass to the Gulf of CaHfornia, the distance, between 
latitudes 32° and 34° N., being about 140 miles. 
Its greatest width is 75 miles, and the entire area is 
about 9,000 square miles. Portions of the surface, 
instead of being composed of drifting sands, are of 
compact blue clay, with a floor-like appearance, 
hardly indented with the mule's hoof in passing 
over it. A similar desert borders the Colorado 
River on the east side, which extends for a long 
distance up the Gila, and reaches the base of the 
mountains in the region of Sonora. 

The desert spreads out as a wide and apparently 
limitless plain; not a green spot, not a shrub, not a 
solitary tree is to be seen, and the mountains which 
hem it in, are so bald that there is not soil enough 
to cover the rocks. 

Blake notices the variety and intensity of colors 
in the light which invests every distant object, as 
characteristic of that region, the result of the ex- 
treme purity and dryness of the atmosphere, which 
is so transparent that small objects may be seen 
at extraordinary distances, robed in a peculiar 
azure hue. 

Upon these desolate plains are witnessed all of 
the phenomena of a tropical twilight. The shadows 

* " Pacific Railroad Survey," Vol. V. 



VALLEY OF THE ST. LAWRENCE. 47 

of the distant mountains, sharply defined, are pro- 
jected on the surface of the ground, and these again 
are reflected upon the apparently glassy vault above. 
While yet the distant summits are gilded with the 
rays of the setting sun, the plain itself is enveloped 
in darkness, and the stars sparkle like diamonds in 
a setting of jet, — thus realizing the vision of the 
Ancient Mariner: 

" The svTii's rim dips ; the stars rush out ; 
At one stride comes the dark." 

Valley of the St. Laturence. — So little elevated 
is the divortia aquarum between the river-systems 
of the St. Lawrence, Hudson's Bay, the Mississippi, 
and the Hudson Rivers, that it opposes slight 
impediments to navigation. The Mississippi and 
St. Lawrence have their sources in a labyrinth of 
lakes, — so numerous, indeed, as, according to Rich- 
ardson, to cover at least one-half of the surface. 
The commerce of the Hudson's Bay Company, 
extending over a vast region, embracing the sources 
of the Columbia, Mackenzie, Lake Superior, Hud- 
son's Bay, and the Saskatchawan, is carried on 
through a orreat net-work of natural channels. The 
voyageur, starting at a common point on that slightly 
elevated plateau, in a light canoe, may pass, by 
easy portages, to the Arctic Ocean, to Astoria, to 
Hudson's Bay, to Chicago, to Quebec, and to New 



48 MOUNTAINS AND PLAINS. 

York. Between the Minnesota branch of the Mis- 
sissippi and the Red River of the North, loaded 
bateaux are transferred each year. During flood, 
the Muskingum of the Ohio, interlocks with the 
Cuyahoga of Lake Erie; the Des Plaines of the 
Illinois, with the Chicago River of Lake Michigan; 
and the Wisconsin River of the Mississippi, with 
the Fox River of Green Bay. 

By reason of a notable physical fact, the sinking 
down of the Alleghany Ridges, in their north- 
easterly prolongation, a continuous w^ater commu- 
nication has been established between Lake Erie 
and the Hudson-River Valley, w^hich w^ill, at no 
distant day, be enlarged into a ship-canal; while 
the Ohio River and Lake Erie, and the Mississippi 
and Lake Michigan, have been connected by simi- 
lar artificial communications, and have been made 
the great highways of an unsurpassed internal com- 
merce. 

On the destinies of New York City, this peculiar 
topographical feature has exercised a dominating 
influence, enabling her to hold easy and expeditious 
communication with the Great Interior, and to 
become alike the depository and the distributing 
point of the vast mass of vegetable and animal food 
which annually moves from West to East, through 
this channel, to the markets of the world. It has 
been the main-spring of her opulence and com- 



INTERNAL NAVIGATION. 49 

mercial greatness; the Aladdin's lamp, by the rub- 
bing of which, the baser materials have been trans- 
muted into gold; the secret, by the possession of 
which, she has been enabled to outstrip all of the 
rival sea-board cities in population and material 
prosperity, and to become the connecting link in 
the traffic of two hemispheres. The highlands of 
the Hudson are the gateways of a commerce such 
as Venice in her palmiest days never dreamed of, 
and such as Holland, rescued from the sea and 
fortified b}^ d3^kes, can not surpass. In access to 
the ocean. New York has not, perhaps, advantages 
superior to Norfolk, Baltimore, Philadelphia, or 
even Boston; but in access to the great Food-pro- 
ducing States, she has unrivaled facilities, which 
she can for all time retain, if she lends her credit to 
the opening of enlarged routes of communication, 
thereby producing cheap and easy modes of transit. 
To many unacquainted with the conditions of 
soil and climate, it might appear that New Orleans, 
situated at the outlet of this great river-system, 
would become a powerful competitor in the career 
of commercial greatness; but a few facts will serve 
to dispel this illusion. Several years ago, I ex- 
pressed the following sentiments, which, in the 
light of subsequent events, I am not disposed to 
retract or modify: 
4 



50 MOUNTAINS AND PLAINS. 

" In the early settlement of the West, the Mississippi was 
the only ovitlet for the products of the country ; but the open- 
ing of the New York and Canadian canals, and the construction 
between the East and West of not less than five trunk rail- 
ways, have rendered the free navigation of the Mississippi a 
matter of secondary importance. 

" The heated waters of a tropical sea, destructive to most 
of our articles of export ; a malarious climate, shunned by 
every Northerner for at least one-half of the year ; and a 
detour in the voyage of over three thousand miles in a direct 
line to the markets of the world; — these considerations have 
been sufficiently powerful to divert the great flow of animal 
and vegetable food from the South to the East. Up to i860, 
the West found a local market for an inconsiderable jDortion 
of her breadstufis and provisions in the South ; but, after sup- 
jDlying that local demand, the amount which was exported 
from New Orleans was insignificant, hardly exceeding two 
millions of dollars per annum." 

/ This system of internal navigation, if platted on 
tne map of Europe, would stretch from the North 
Sea to the confines of Tartary, and from the Medi- 
terranean to the Baltic. We have, within this 
area, a people united and prosperous, and acknow- 
ledging allegiance to one all-protecting Govern- 
ment, while there, the area is divided into princi- 
palities and empires for ages disunited, and differ 
ing in laws, language, and race. No one fact can 
impress the American more profoundly than this, 
of the prospective grandeur of his country. 

The external commerce of the nation is but a 
tithe of that which is carried on through this 
internal system of communication. 



PACIFIC RAILROADS. 5 I 



PACIFIC RAILROADS. 



Two railroads, the Union Pacific and the Union 
Pacific Eastern Division, are in progress of con- 
struction between the Missouri River and the 
Pacific Slope; and one other, the Northern Pacific, 
is projected to connect the waters of Lake Superior 
with those of Puo^et Sound. 



*to' 



U7iio7i Pacific Railroad. — This railway starts 
at Omaha, on the Missouri River, at an altitude of 
968 feet above the ocean, and follows the valley of 
the Platte to the forks, where, leaving the North 
Fork, it follows the South Platte to Julesburg, and 
thence to the mouth of Lodo;-e-Pole Creek. This 
station is 484.75 miles distant^ and the altitude 
attained is 3,528 feet. This portion of the route is 
through a region highly favorable to the construc- 
tion of a road; requiring few bridges, and little 
excavation. 

Here the engineering difficulties begin. From 
Lodge-Pole Creek to Evans's Pass, in the Black 
Hills, 545.62 miles, the altitude rises to 8,248 feet. 
This is the culminating point on this line between 
the two oceans, and is 75 feet higher than the 
Pass of Great St. Bernard in the Alps. The high- 
est points of the Black Hills, in this vicinity, are 
from 9,000 to 9,500 feet. 



52 MOUNTAINS AND PLAINS. 

The table-lands between the Black Hills and 
Medicine-Bow Mountains, have an elevation be- 
tween 6,000 and 7,000 feet, and are nearly barren 
of vegetation, except the characteristic artemisia. 

The next highest summit is that between Bear 
River of Salt Lake and Muddy Creek, a tributary of 
Green River flowing into the Colorado. This point, 
on the eastern rim of the Great Basin, is 893 miles 
distant from Omaha, and has an altitude of 7,567 
feet. Salt-Lake City, distant 1,026.76 miles, has 
an elevation of 4,285 feet. The road, as finally 
located, leaves Salt-Lake City to the left, crossing 
Bear-River Bay, and curves round the head of the 
lake, on whose borders is founded, by that peculiar 
people known as Mormons, the largest " settlement" 
in any of the territories; and however much we 
may deplore the social economy of this people, 
all must admit that they have exhibited a degree of 
thrift and patient industry which is highl}^ to be 
commended. 

Materials for construction of a railroad abound 
along this portion of the route. Pines suitable for 
timber clothe the ridges, and lignite is found in 
the earth, at intervals, as far east as Boulder Creek, 
sufficiently pure to furnish fuel for locomotives. 
Between Salt Lake and Reed's Pass, in the Hum- 
boldt Mountains (altitude 5,550 feet), the country 



PACIFIC RAILROADS. 53 

is said to abound in grasses, and also in timber and 

water. 

From Reed's Pass, 1,259.47 miles, the route fol- 
lows one of the branches of the Humboldt River. 
The mountains on the south have an elevation of 
8,000 feet, and the loftiest peaks are perpetually 
covered with snow. The valley is well-watered 
by numerous streams which have their sources in 
the melting snows, and is adapted to agricultural 
purposes. 

At Copper Caiion, the river is from 150 to 200 
feet wide, and passes 18,000 cubic feet of water in 
a minute. " This section," remarks the engineer, 
Mr. Bates, " is the most remarkable and interesting 
feature of the line. A range of mountains, having 
a direction nearly north and south, in remote ages, 
formed a barrier to the flow of the water between 
this point and Humboldt Wells, and the valley has 
probabl}^ been the bed of a lake. All along the 
slopes of the hills, the water-line can be seen seve- 
ral hundred feet above the river-bed. . . . They 
rise several thousand feet in height, with mountain 
on the top of mountain, rolling off, in the dim dis- 
tance, in almost every conceivable shape." 

The lower valley of Humboldt River is suscep- 
tible of cultivation, and several ranches have been 
established along its course. 

The route between Humboldt Lake and Truckee 



54 MOUNTAINS AND PLAINS. 

Desert, traverses a region where the soil is so light 
that it blows and drifts like snow, requiring ballast 
to protect the road-bed. The Truckee-River Val- 
ley, where intersected, is narrow and tortuous, but 
finally emerges into the Big Meadows, which are 
surrounded by mountains of great height. These 
meadows are inhabited by a mixed population of 
500 souls, occupied in agriculture, trade, and 
mining. The proposed termination of the road is 
on the Truckee River, near Crystal Peak, at the 
boundary of California; — 5? 195 feet above tide, and 
1,550.50 miles distant from Omaha. 

The Central Pacific Railroad of California. 
— This road extends from Sacramento to Truckee 
Valle}'', and in its construction, impediments which 
a few years ago would have been deemed insur- 
mountable by the civil engineer, have been success- 
fully overcome. 

I^eaving Sacramento in June, the passenger, in 
the course of a few hours, experiences as great a 
change of temperature as though he were to pass 
from New York to Greenland. The valley, at this 
season, is clothed with a semi-tropical vegetation, 
and the balmy air is laden with the fragrance of 
flowers. 

From the treeless plain to the eastward, the Sierra 
Nevada looms up like a great cloud-bank, the snow- 



PACIFIC RAILROADS. 55 

fields on the summits flashing in the morning sun 
with opalescent hues. Soon he becomes involved 
in the foot-hills, and the viev^ of the distant moun- 
tains is shut out. The cars wind around a project- 
ing promontory, and far down is seen, like a silver 
thread, the foaming torrent of a branch of the 
American River. Ere long a glimpse of the snow- 
capped mountains is gained, and the air is tempered 
by their proximity. The flanks of the subordinate 
hills are clothed with dense forests of pine and 
other evergreens. 

As the engine continues to climb, the country 
becomes still more inhospitable, and, seventy-five 
miles from Sacramento, and 4,500 feet above the 
sea, the snow-fields descend to the level of the 
track; and at intervals, through deep cuts, are con- 
structed steep-roofed sheds with heavy timbers, to 
ward oft' the avalanches. 

Still ascending, the pines are replaced by the 
cedar and tamarack, until finally the limit of vege- 
tation is attained, and the hills rise up bare and 
desolate. The track is through tunnels in the solid 
rock, and along immense fields of snow, and icicles 
hang pendent from every projecting crag. 

About one hundred miles from Sacramento, the 
summit is attained — 7,042 feet, being 1,206 feet 
less than Evans's Pass; and, two miles beyond, the 
train enters the Great Tunnel, 1,659 ^^^^ ^^^ length. 



56 MOUNTAINS AND PLAINS. 

The aspect here has all the rigors of an Arctic 
winter. Deep snow-banks, glacier-like torrents, 
and stalactites of ice, are on every side. 

And now commences the descent. Steam is 
shut off, the breaks are applied, and the train moves 
forward by its own momentum. Far below, the 
eye catchfes a glimpse of Donner Lake, cradled in 
the hills, and surrounded by a fringe of pines. 
Around this lake, the road makes a circuit of seven 
miles, to gain an advance of only one-fourth of a 
mile, and in this distance accomplishes a descent 
of 783 feet. Truckee Station, in the valley of the 
Great Basin, is 119 miles from Sacramento, and 
5,860 feet above the sea. * 

The entire distance from Omaha to Sacramento is 
1,669 miles, — to San Francisco, 1,793 miles. 

Humboldt Valley is represented as rich in the 
precious metals, but the products are unavailable, 
by reason of inaccessibility and cost of transporta- 
tion. Virginia City, the seat of extensive and pros- 
perous mining, is sixteen miles south of the road, 
but owing to the topography of the country, forty 
miles of construction are required to make the con- 
nection. 

The mining: interests of Nevada will receive a 
prodigious impulse on the completion of this great 

* The details of the passage of the first passenger train, are abridged 
from the Correspondent of the " New York Tribune." 



PACIFIC RAILROADS. 57 

work, — in the accession of population; in the dimi- 
nished cost of transport of mining machinery and 
supplies of every kind; and in the facilities of com- 
municating with both slopes of the continent. 

Union Pacific Railroad^ Eastern Division. — 
This road runs nearly due west from Kansas City, 
Missouri, up the valley of the Kaw, of which the 
Smoky Hill River is the continuation, to Pond 
Creek, near Fort Wallace, 412 miles distant. The 
route is through a region highly feasible for the 
construction of such a work, the country rising by 
an almost uniform slope to the height of about 
2,200 feet. 

The valley of the Kaw, for more than 100 miles, 
is well wooded, while the uplands rise in gently- 
swelling hills. The precipitation of rain is suffi- 
cient, during the spring and summer, to mature all 
the cerealia usually cultivated at the West. The 
western portion of the State is unfitted for agricul- 
ture, without a resort to irrigation, but affords an 
unlimited range of pasturage, which was, up to a 
recent time, the favorite resort of the buffalo. 

To make Pond Creek the terminus of the road, 
or to continue it to Denver, seems a short-sighted 
policy, as it simply gives an additional outlet to the 
mining regions of Colorado and Nevada, of which 
there is no pressing necessity. The Company now 



58 MOUNTAINS AND PLAINS. 

propose, by Government aid, to deflect the road 
southwesterly to Fort Lyon; thence, after ascend- 
ing the valley of the Purgatoire, to cross the eastern 
spur of the Raton Mountain; and thence, passing 
Fort Union, to continue onward to the Rio Grande, 
at Albuquerque, 872 miles. The highest summit 
encountered is at the head of Cafion Blanco — lati- 
tude 35°, and about thirty miles south of Santa Fv, — 
7,136 feet above the sea. From Albuquerque, the 
survey has been protracted nearly along the 35th 
parallel, over the axial line of California, and 
thence northwesterl}' into the San Joaquin valley; 
and, crossing a gap in the Diablo range, reaches 
San Francisco. Such a route would develop a 
region rich in mineral resources, and over portions 
of which the dominion of the Government is but 
imperfectly asserted and maintamed. 

Dr. Le Conte, who accompanied the expedition 
as far as New Mexico, has briefly reported on the 
geology of the country. 

The reg-ion from Fort Wallace to the Arkansas 
(seventy miles) is deficient in water; the annual 
rain-fall at Fort Lyon being 11.25 inches. The 
Arkansas furnishes an abundant supply of good 
water, and the valley contains much land capable, 
under irrigation, of yielding abundant harvests. 
Occasional groves of cotton-wood are seen in the 
valley; but the Purgatoire is fringed with a growth 



PACIFIC RAILROADS. 59 

of cotton-wood, box, elder, and willow. The hills, 
within thirty miles of the Arkansas, are thickly 
covered with cedars; and on the higher ridges, 
adjacent to the cafion, pines of good quality appear. 

Important beds of coal (Cretaceous) were 
observed along the foot-hills of the mountains, 
eight and ten feet in thickness. Enough is known 
to justify the conclusion that there are several 
places in the neighborhood of the line surveyed, 
which will furnish sufficient supplies of fuel adapted 
to railroad and domestic purposes. 

Rich deposits of placer gold exist near Max- 
welfs, and gold quartz, argentiferous galena, cop- 
per, limonite, specular, and magnetic oxide of iron, 
are found in quantities of economic value.^ 

The country between the Rio Grande and the 
Colorado of the West, presents far ditferent physi- 
cal aspects. Instead of gentle slopes, composed of 
thick beds of water-worn materials, we find abrupt 
cliffs, barren rocks excavated into deep canons, and 
sheltered valleys, where the herds are secure against 
the severest storms which rage on the mountains. 
To add to the desolation of the scene, extinct vol- 
canic cones and long lines of erupted rock are by 
no means rare. 



* Dr. John L. Le Conte's " Preliminarj Report to General Palmer, 
in charge of Survey," 1868. 



6o MOUNTAINS AND PLAINS. 

"The Navajo Country," according to Dr. Parry, "comprises 
a similar character of broken highlands, with fertile valleys, 
grassy slopes, and deeply-sheltered canons. 

" In passing to the valley of the Colorado, w^e descend by a 
succession of irregular mountain ranges and basin valleys, 
becoming more arid as they reach the lower elevation, and 
finally passing into the valley of the Colorado, characterized by 
its bare mountain ranges, desert uplands, and broad alluvial 
bottoms, supporting their peculiar semi-tropical vegetation." * 

The features of the Colorado Desert, as well as 
of the western slope of the Sierra Nevada, require 
no further description. Dr. Parry traces the pecu- 
liar coal-deposits two hundred miles west of the 
Rio Grande. Over all of the region, between the 
Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada, placer 
gold is known to exist. Silver is very generally 
associated with lead and copper, and it also occurs 
in the form of chloride and black oxide, with more 
or less gold. Copper is mined on Williams's Fork 
of the Colorado, and shipped to Swansea. Absence 
of water and fuel, the difficulty of transporting 
machinery, and the insecurity of life, have thus far 
prevented the development of this region. The 
extension of this railroad has already become a 
matter of commercial importance, and will soon 
become one of national necessity. 

* Dr. C. C. Parry, " Preliminary Report," i86S. 



PACIFIC RAILROADS. 6 1 

Northern Pacific Railroad. — It is contemplated 
by a company of capitalists, aided by a govern- 
ment subsidy, to construct a railroad from the 
Fond du Lac of Lake Superior, to the Great Bend 
of the Missouri, thence through the valley of the 
Yellowstone River, and across the Rocky Moun- 
tains, through Cadott's Pass, to the valley of the 
Columbia ; and. thence, to Seattle, in AVashington 
Territory, with a branch to Portland, on the Colum- 
bia River. 

This road will traverse an entirely new region, 
which is supposed to contain resources, both min- 
eral and agricultural, not to be developed by the 
roads now in progress of construction. 

The estimated distance is 1,775 miles. From 
Fond du Lac to the main divide of the waters of 
the Missouri and Columbia, — according to Mr. 
Edwin F. Johnson, Chief Engineer of the road, — 
a distance of over 1,000 miles, there is no moun- 
tain range to be overcome. The elevation of the 
ground between the Mississippi and Lake Supe- 
rior, in the direction of Crow Wing, is 1,158 feet 
above the ocean, or 558 feet above Lake Superior. 
The highest elevation encountered, is at Cadott's 
Pass, 5,330 feet, and the second, Snoqualmie Pass, 
3,000 feet. The main range of mountains which 
forms the axis of the Continent where the proposed 
line crosses, is broken down, so as to permit the 



k. 



62 MOUNTAINS AND PLAINS. 

sources of the Missouri and the Columbia nearly 
to interlock.* 

The general sterility of the valle}^ of the Upper 
Missouri has been dwelt upon, but to the north of 
this, there lies a region drained by the Red, Mouse, 
Assiniboin, and Saskatchawan Rivers, which are 
navigable for long distances, — a region which, 
owing to the rapid trend of the isothermal lines to 
the northward, after passing longitude 98°, has a 
climate far more genial and a soil far less sterile 
than that of New England. So far as known, it is 
better adapted to the growth of wheat, rye, and oats, 
than the prairies of Illinois and Wisconsin. Herds 



* My young friend, William H. Dall, who, for five years past, has 
been engaged in investigating the natural history of the region of 
Alaska, has furnished me with the following topographical notes, as 
to the northern extension of the Rocky Mountain ranges : 

' "i. Rocky Mountains. — From the reports of the explorers of the 
Telegraphic Expedition, and the employes of the Hudson's Bay Com- 
pany, and my own explorations, the following are our conclusions : 
First, the prolongation of this chain, northwesterly to the Arctic 
Ocean, as laid down on most physico-geographical maps, is erroneous. 
"The Rocky Mountains lose their distinctive character, as a i-ange, 
about latitude 60° N. The country here to the west and northwest, 
becomes mountainous, rolling, and broken. This conglomeration of 
mountains extends to the north and northwest, perhaps as far as the 
parallel 64°. About longitude 147' west, the Coast Mountains (being 
the prolongation of the Cascade Range, and probably the same in 
age) also lose themselves in this rolling country. Through these 
hills — 1,200 to 2,500 feet — the Youkon River cuts its way in a north- 
west direction. These mountains gradually close up their ranks as 
we go west, and about longitude 140° or 145", they are united in a 
clearly defined range, which has a trend parallel with that of the 
coast, and which I have named the Alaskan Mountains. (See Proc. 
Boston Society of Nat. Hist., Nov. 4, 1868). This range contains 



PACIFIC RAILROADS. 6^ 

of buffalo range over plains of rich pasturage, and 
winter even on the sources of the Athabasca, — a 
pretty conclusive evidence of the mildness of the 
climate. 

This region, as large as the original Thirteen 
States in area, would be directly dependent on this 
route for its commercial intercourse; and, though 
under the dominion of a foreign power, its people 
would naturally gravitate to us as the centre of 
their political system. 

The Pacific coast has a climate as congenial as 
that of AVestern Europe. Its fiord-like character, 

many high volcanic peaks, and forms the back-bone of the peninsula 
of Alaska, and the Aleutian Islands. 

"2. RoMANZOFF Mountains. — These mountains extend along the 
coast, from near the mouth of the Mackenzie River, gradually rising, 
till they culminate near the mouth of the Colville River. Several fine 
peaks are visible from Ft. Youkon, at the junction of the Porcupine 
and the Youkon Rivers. Near the Mackenzie River they are compar- 
atively low and insignificant. 

"3. Between the eastern end of this range, and the high, rolling 
country mentioned above, there is a broad extent of surface compara- 
tivelv free from mountains. It is a rolling country, and these hills 
attain their highest point (2,000 feet?) at the water-shed between the 
sources of the Porcupine and the Peel Rivers. This permits the west- 
ward migration of eastern species of birds — summer visitors, — and 
the Alaskan Range to a great extent, if not entirely, arrests the north- 
ward progress of the typical west coast land-birds. 

" There is no defined northerly current through the Ounimak Pass, 
but to the westward the Japan Current, or a branch of it, extends 
north through Behring's Straits, into the Arctic Ocean. 

"The other mountains, in the valley of the Youkon, are low, none 
exceeding 3.000 feet, and probably only one or two attain over 1,500 or 
2,000 feet. There are no large rivers emptying into Kotzebue Sound, 
or the Arctic Ocean. The Kouskoquim River is the only large one 
south of the Youkon. 

" Isanotsky Pass is a cul-de-sac, and impassable for vessels." 



1 



64 MOUNTAINS AND PLAINS. 

and the deep articulations through the Straits of 
Fuca into Puget's Sound, afford harbors unsur- 
passed in ease of approach, anchorage, and shelter. 
Lignite of a superior quality is found at Belling- 
ham Bay and in the Willamette Valley. The inte- 
rior affords magnificent forests, which already yield 
large supplies of lumber. From the Douglas pine, 
or the sugar pine, may be hewn spars fit 

"to be the mast 
Of some great ammiral." 

The mountains of Idaho and Montana already 
yield $20,000,000 annually of the precious metals. 

It will thus be seen that two lines of Pacific 
railwa}^ are under construction, and a third is 
projected. Already is the commercial interest of 
the valley of the Mississippi beginning to feel the 
effects of this new impulse communicated to its 
trade, as the ocean is affected by a large stream 
discharging its waters into its abyss. That the 
completion of these lines is to have an important 
bearing on our own commerce and that of the world, 
is not to be gainsayed; and yet these benefits may, 
by many, be overestimated. Viewed as a work 
of art, spanning such rivers as the Mississippi and 
Missouri, and scaling the crests of ridges like those 
of the Rocky Mountains and Sierra Nevada, it may 
be pronounced the most magnificent example of 



PACIFIC RAILROADS. 65 

ancient or modern eno^ineerinof. Viewed as a com- 
mercial problem, while it may not divert the com- 
merce of the vv^orld, so far as relates to bulky arti- 
cles which have received little enhanced value from 
the skill or industry of man, from its accustomed 
channels; but, so far as relates to human intercourse 
by travel, to the transmission of intelligence through 
the mails, to the development of mines of the prec- 
ious metals, to the conveyance of the spices, silks, 
and teas of the Orient to their appropriate markets, 
its benefits will be great. But, viewed as a political 
measure, building up lines of States across the Con- 
tinent, linking together parts of the Republic now 
widely separated by ties of the closest intimacy, 
and consolidating the strength and glory of a nation, 
it presents an aspect far more important than any 
mere commercial enterprise, and amply justifies the 
expenditure of all the money which has been 
appropriated to this object. 

The construction of these roads will be regarded, 
in all coming times, as among those great works 
dictated by a wise patriotism and a far-seeing 
sagacity, which have for their object the substantial 
welfare of every portion of the Great Republic. 
Undertaken, too, at a time of great national depres- 
sion, and when the burdens of taxation bore 
heavily on all classes, they are illustrious examples 
of what a free people can accomplish to develop 
5 



66 MOUNTAINS AND PLAINS. 

those resources which shall contribute to the 
national strength and unity. 

I have thus attempted to sketch the physical fea- 
tures of the United States; and, in doing so, have 
purposely avoided, except incidentally, all reference 
to those portions which are well known to the 
general reader. 

This country has within itself elements of wealth 
such as are possessed by no other nation. On other 
continents, the progress of nations and the unity of 
the people have been interrupted both by ph3^sical 
restraints, such as impassable mountains and vast 
deserts, and by artificial restraints, such as civil dis- 
abilities and inequality of condition. " The feeble 
barrier of the Cheviot Hills," says Mrs. Somer- 
ville, " between England and Scotland, and the 
moderate elevation of the Highlands, have pre- 
vented the amalgamation of the Anglo-Saxons and 
Celts, even in a period of high civilization. The 
Franks and Belgians are distinct, though separated 
by hills of still less elevation." * Thus, slight 
physical barriers have controlled the migration of 
races, and checked the spread of civilization. 

* " Physical Geography." 



MATERIAL RESOURCES. 67 

" Lands intersected by a narrow frith 
Abhor each other. Mountains interposed 
Make enemies of nations, wlio had else, 
Like kindred drops, been mingled into one." 

Our own countiy, with the internal improvements 
already completed, presents no such obstacles to 
inter-communication. With a vast body of agri- 
cultural lands in the Interior, capable of producing 
a diversity of products, with great manufacturing 
capacities at one extreme, and great mineral 
resources at the other, the whole Intersected by 
navigable rivers and far-stretching railroads, by 
which expeditious communication Is had with the 
most distant parts, and maintaining an oceanic 
commerce both with Europe and Asia, soon to be 
more Intimate than that of the most favored 
nations, — all these conditions are conducive to 
national strength and unity. 

Nor are the peculiar tendencies of our political 
system to be overlooked. Founded, as It now Is, 
upon the basis of equal rights to all men, every 
citizen Is animated with the sentiment that he con- 
stitutes a part of the State. This sentiment will 
impress him with the value and efficiency of the 
ballot, and the importance of its use in checking 
abuses and promoting reforms. To those who, 
born in a foreign land, have been accustomed to 
see the right of empire exercised by a rule of sue- 



68 MOUNTAINS AND PLAINS. 

cession as inexorable as the decrees of fate, and 
the most obsequious devotions paid by the wisest 
statesmen and the most renowned warriors to one 
who has inherited this right by the mere accident 
of birth, irrespective of pubHc capacity or private 
worth, — to those, we repeat, who arrive on our 
shores and becoine invested with citizenship, there 
is no inducement to maintain the distinctions of 
nationality or the prejudices of race, whether he 
be Celt, Teuton, or Sclavonian. By the removal 
of all restraints upon intermarriage, by bringing 
together the children in the public schools and 
teaching them from the same text-books, and by 
enlisting men in the pursuit of the same industries, 
a spirit is evoked whose tendency is to soften the 
asperities of local association, and to fuse incon- 
gruous materials into harmonious proportions, — in 
fact, to Americanize all nationalities. 

The recognition, in its broadest sense, of individ- 
ual and political freedom, will produce unity and 
fraternity; it will "humanize men, and give them 
a common country." * 

Our country has yet vast tracts of rich land 
whose surface has never been furrowed by the 
plough, and whose sod has never been upturned to 
the light of the sun. It is as fresh in rural beauty 

* "Humanitatem homini daret, breviterque una cunctarum gentium, 
ih toto orbe patria fierat." (Pliny, " Natural History.") 



ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS. 69 

as when first it came from the hand of nature. 
Apart from the tumuH and embankments of that 
mysterious race, the Mound-Builders, or occasional 
patches of greensward, to indicate the spot where 
the Indian once pitched his lodge, there is little to 
remind us of the former occupancy of the continent. 
How different this from the aspects of the Old 
World! There are the remains of human struc- 
tures whose origin stretches back to the dawn of 
the historic epoch; — pyramids, obelisks, and 
sphinxes, to remind us of an Egyptian civilization; 
winged bulls, colossal in size, hanging gardens, and 
spacious palaces, monuments of the former great- 
ness of the Assyrian empire; statues of matchless 
proportions, temples of faultless architecture, and 
colisseums vast in extent, to remind us of the 
refinements of a Grecian or Roman civilization; and 
Gothic cathedrals, castles, and towers, to recall the 
rude civilization of the Middle Ages. But these 
are monuments of an effete civilization, indicative 
of long ages of crime and oppression, when man 
remorselessly appropriated the unrequited toil of 
his fellow-man. There is nothing to symbolize the 
moral or intellectual elevation of the masses; and, 
while we may admire these ruins of former great- 
ness, the true philanthropist does not regret that 
such civilizations have been swept from the earth. 
They proclaim a relation which, throughout all 



70 MOUNTAINS AND PLAINS. 

history, has been adverse to human progress, — that 
of tyrant and people, of patrician and plebs, of lord 
and vassal, of master and slave. 

But the contemplation of the physical aspects of 
our country awakens far different thoughts. Its 
vast primeval forests of rich and varied verdure; 
its almost boundless plains of waving green, spread 
out far as human vision can range; its noble rivers, 
thousands of miles in length, often expanding into 
inland seas, which serve as the great highways of 
an extended and prosperous commerce; its lofty 
mountains, whose crests penetrate high into the 
region of perpetual snow, and whose flanks are 
stored with the precious metals; — all remind the 
statesman and the philanthropist that here are the 
elements of material wealth and of human power, 
such as the world never saw; that here is a field 
for the display of the most vigorous manifestations 
of physical or intellectual force; and that here, 
under a beneficent form of government, man may 
rise to his true dignity, — a position in the order of 
creation " a little lower than that of the angels." 



CHAPTER III. 

THE ORIGIN OF PRAIRIES. 

DISTRIBUTION OF FOREST, PRAIRIE, AND DESERT PRAIRIES 

NOT DUE TO PEAT-GROWTH NOT DUE TO THE TEXTURE OF 

THE SOIL NOT DUE TO THE ANNUAL BURNINGS ZONES OF 

VEGETATION THE GREAT BASIN CLIMATIC CONDITIONS 

MEAN ANNUAL PRECIPITATION SOURCE OF MOISTURE 

PERIODICAL RAINS OF CALIFORNIA CONCLUSIONS. 

Distribution of Forest^ Prairie^ and Desert. — 
Whenever we examine a continental mass, we 
ordinarily find a wooded belt along the shores, 
succeeded, as we advance inland, by grassy plains, 
and graduating in the interior into inhospitable 
deserts. Whenever we study the annual precipi- 
tation of moisture, in connection with the lines of 
temperature, we find that, wherever the moisture is 
equable and abundant, we have the densely-clothed 
forest; wherever it is unequally distributed, we 
have the grassy plain; and wherever it is mostly 
withheld, we have the inhospitable desert. 

The varying supply of moisture, then, is sufficient 
to account for the diversity of vegetation, modified 
to some extent by the physical features of the 



72 THE ORIGIN OF PRAIRIES. 

country, altitude above the sea, and the extremes 
of heat and cold. 

Most of us were born in a wooded region, and 
in the vicinity of the moisture-distilling sea. In 
our childhood, we were accustomed to look out 
upon a landscape diversified by mountain and val- 
le}^ Every hill had its crown of forest, and ever}^ 
stream its waterfall. To subdue the soil by cutting 
down these aborescent forms, was an herculean 
task. Thus, then, from early associations, we were 
led to infer that this was the primal condition of 
the earth's surface. 

Transported to a region with a combination of 
features far different, with a soil composed of the 
most comminuted materials, where in a day's jour- 
ney we should fail to see the underlying rock or 
even an erratic block, with a surface stretching out 
in vast savannas, either level or thrown into gently- 
rounded outlines, like the waves of the ocean 
arrested and petrified, — the whole waving with a 
luxuriant growth of vegetable green, — while in the 
distance, the eye would discern a clump of trees, 
like an island in mid-ocean, or a long line of trees, 
like a low coast, fringing a stream which wound its 
sluggish way through this mass of verdure, and 
where the whole plain seemed to be spread out 
like a hemisphere bounded by the sky; — trans- 
ferred to such a scene, our ideas of the earth's 



NOT DUE TO PEAT-GROWTH. 73 

surface would be very different from those of our 
youthful remembrance. 

If we were to penetrate still further into the inte- 
rior, and behold plains equally extended, the surface 
covered with efflorescences of salt which glittered 
like snow-flakes in the morning sun, or with a rank 
growth of artemisia which perfumed the air as with 
camphor, or with cacti which we had seen culti- 
vated as hot-house plants, shooting up in tree-like 
forms ; our ideas of the earth's surface would be still 
further modified. And yet, such are the diversities 
which nature presents in every continental mass. 

The Prairies not due to Peat-Gro~vth. — It is a 
microscopic view to undertake to trace analogies 
between the formation of the prairies and that of 
the treeless morasses known as peat-swamps, as 
has been done by Lesquereux, a distinguished bota- 
nist, in the first volume of the " Illinois Geological 
Reports." It is a theory which presupposes a humid 
climate, a level countr}^ with imperfect drainage, 
and with a surface dotted over with lakes and shel- 
tered from the winds, where the peat-producing 
plants could grow, — conditions none of which 
obtain where the prairies assume their grandest 
proportions. * 

* Take, for example, Kansas : So great is the relief and depression 
of the soil, that, standing on one of the " rolls," I have commanded 
a view of forty miles in extent. The rise of the Kansas Slope is 2,200 



74 ORIGIN OF THE PRAIRIES. 

We can hardly conceive of conditions by which 
the whole surface of a country would be converted 
into a peat-bog. Such bogs are generally found 
occupying erosions in the surface, and where they 
are sheltered from the winds. There is no tendency 
to the formation of peat along the shores of the 
Great Lakes, where the waters are agitated by 
storms, nor along the margins of rivers of briskly- 
running water. Peat-vegetation, then, only thrives 
in still waters, and where there is a tendency to 
stagnation; and the area over which it extends in a 
given region is inconsiderable, compared with the 
area occupied by other vegetable forms. * 

feet in the distance of 400 miles. What struck me as remarkable, in 
traversing that region, was the entire absence of peat. 

Dr. Logan (" Report on the Geology of Kansas," 1S66,) remarks : 
"There is but little marshy or spongy soil in the whole State; the sur- 
plus water coursing down the natural conduits, leaves no opportu- 
nity for the saturation of the ground, which is observable in some of 
the other States, and particularly the prairie States east of the Missis- 
sippi River. * * * Kansas, as said before, by reason of its physi- 
cal features, its soil, and its winds, is thoroughly drained. The streams 
usually have high banks and run in narrow channels, and the water is 
carried off with great rapidity. * * Hence, no ponds or sloughs are 
formed, and but rarely any spongy soil." 

Thus, while the treeless region of Kansas is characterized by an 
absence of peat, the densely-wooded region of Massachusetts contains, 
by estimate, 120,000,000 of cords. 

* Staring gives the following explanation of the formation of peat: 
The first condition on the surface of the fens, is stillness of water. 
Hence, it is not formed in running streams, nor in pools so large as to 
be subject to frequent agitation of the wind. Aquatic plants of various 
genera, such as Nuphar, Nymphoza, etc., fill the bottom with roots and 
cover the surface with leaves. Many of the plants die each year, and 
furnish a soil fit for a higher order of vegetation, viz., Phraginites, 



NOT DUE TO PEAT-GROWTH. 75 

The aromatic sage-plants, the cacti, and the 
bunch-grasses, are forms of vegetation which char- 
acterize the Western Plains, and are unknown in a 
region fovorable to the growth of peat. 

The Llanos of Venezuela have many features in 
common with the prairies, but they are subject, 
each year, to droughts so long-continued and 
intense that the soil cracks and bakes, and the car- 
bonized particles of vegetation are whirled through 
the air in the form of fine dust. Such climatic 
conditions would preclude the growth of peat-vege- 
tation. 

It is evident, therefore, that we must resort to 
other and different causes to explain the phenom- 
ena of these grassy plains. 

Acorns, Sparganium, etc. In course of twenty or thirty years, the 
muddy bottom is filled witli roots of aquatic and marsh plants, which 
are lighter than water; and if the depth is great enough to detach the 
vegetable net-work, it rises to the surface, bearing with it, of course, 
the soil formed above it b}' decay of stems and leaves. New genera 
now appear upon the mass, such as Carix, McnyantJies, and others, 
which quickh' cover it. 

The turf has now acquired a thickness of from two to four feet, and 
floats about. In about half a century, the mass, having increased in 
thickness, reaches the bottom and becomes fixed. Arborescent plants, 
Alnus, Sali'x, etc., appear, and these contribute to hasten the attach- 
ment of the turf to the bottom, both by their weight and by sending 
their roots through into the ground. This is the method employed by 
nature for the gradual filling up of shallow lakes and pools, and con- 
verting them first into morass and then into dry land. (Staring, " De 
Bodem van Nederland," i., 36.) 

Hundreds of acres of floating pastures, which have nothing to dis- 
tinguish them from grass-lands, resting on solid bog, are found in 
North Holland. Cattle are pastured on these islands, and sometimes 
large trees are found growing on them. There is little evidence that 
the surface of the prairies has been thus formed. 



76 THE ORIGIN OF PRAIRIES. 

Not due to the Texture of the Soil. — Other 
physicists would attribute the formation of prairies 
to the mechanical or chemical composition of the 
soil, — a theory which we think equally untenable, 
when we reflect that the surface of these treeless 
plains may vary in every degree between drifting 
sands and impervious clays, and that the efflores- 
cences of soda and gypsum which are the evidences 
of an arid climate at one extremity of the Conti- 
nent, would become fertilizing agents at the other. 

The forest of Fontainbleau thrives on a plain 
composed of sand to the extent of ninet3'-eight per 
cent, of the whole contents; the region of the Col- 
orado Valley, the most desolate portion of the 
United States, is often underlaid by a blue cla}^ so 
indurated as hardly to be impressed b}^ a mule's 
hoof in passing over it; the soil of the Llano Esta- 
cado is red clay and gypsum, which, under certain 
conditions of moisture, would be highly productive; 
and even the entire area of Sahara is far from beingf 
a mass of drifting sands. 

Not due to Annual Burnings. — The theory 
very much in vogue before the laws of climatology 
were fully understood, which attributed the forma- 
tion of prairies to the annual fires set by the Indians, 
is deserving only of a passing notice. If these 
regions were once wooded, we should expect to 



ZONES OF VEGETATION. 77 

find the remains of an arborescent vegetation 
entombed in the sloughs, where they would be 
capable of indefinite preservation. If their tree- 
less character is due to such causes, we should 
expect to find similar tracts east of the Allegha- 
nies; particularly, as it is a historical fact that, 
when this country was first known to the European, 
the Indian lived in the wooded region, and not on 
the prairies. 

In traversing the great forests adjacent to Lake 
Superior, where, owing to the resinous nature of 
the trees, the fires at times rage with unabated 
fury, consuming even the turf, until quenched by 
drenching rains, we have seen large areas thus 
burnt over; but we never saw a grassy plain which 
could be traced to such a cause. 

In order to fully comprehend the origin of these 
vast savannas, and to trace that origin to the 
operation of known laws, it becomes necessary to 
consider the varying distribution of moisture in 
connection with the geographical distribution of 
plants. 

ZONES OF VEGETATION. 

North America may be divided into five zones 
of vegetation, resulting from its climatic condi- 
tions : 



78 THE ORIGIN OF PRAIRIES. 

1. The Region of Alosses and Saxifrages. 

2. The Densely-xvooded Region. 

3. Alternate Wood and Prairie. 

4. Vast Grassy Plains^ where the Trees are restricted to 
the i?nmediate Ranks of the Streatns. 

5. Vast Arid Plains^ often bare of Vegetation^ and covered 
to some extent with Saline Inflorescences. 

Region of Mosses and Saxifrages. — From 
latitude 60^ N., on Hudson's Bay, and thence 
extending northwesterly as far as the Arctic Ocean, 
lie the "Barren Grounds," so well described by 
Richardson. They are treeless, and the simpler 
kinds of vegetation abound, such as lichens, mosses, 
and fungi. Still north, beyond the flood, is the 
I'erra Damnaia of the Laplanders; there, 

"A frozen continent 
Lies dark and wild, beat with perpetual storms 
Of whirlwind and dire hail, which on firm land 
Thaws not, but gathers heap, and ruin seems 
Of ancient pile ; all else deep snow and ice." 

This peculiar vegetation is the result of dimin- 
ished temperature, rather than of deficient moisture, 
where every hill is sculptured in ice, and every 
stream has a viscid flow to the oceanic abyss. 

Densely-wooded Belt. — Below the " Barren 
Grounds," we enter upon a forest-belt which 
stretches continuously to the Gulf of Mexico. 



ZONES OF VEGETATION. 79 

The prairie has its greatest transverse expansion 
in the Missouri Basin, and narrows as it goes 
north. In the temperate zone, the western Hne 
of the forest-belt would bear southeast, passing 
west of the head of Lake Superior, and striking 
the west shore of Lake Michigan, whence it is 
protracted southwest into Eastern Texas. Clumps 
of spruce-fir form its outliers to the north, while 
its southern extension embraces the magnolia and 
palmetto. 

With reference to the forest-range, as determined 
by lines of latitude, aud^ therefore^ by the vicissi- 
tudes of siimmei' and tuijiter temperature^ rather 
than by the varying supplies of moisture^ it may 
be stated than many of the Canadian types, follow- 
ing the course of the Alleghanies, reach as far 
south as Virginia, and even Georgia, where they 
intermingle with forms purely sub-tropical. Thus, 
on the crests of the Alleghanies, in Pennsylvania, 
may be seen the hemlock of the north holding 
divided empire with the magnolia of the south, — 
sub-arctic and sub-tropical species intermingling, — 
and both withstanding alike the rigor of our win- 
ters and the heat of our summers; both hybernating 
during the winter, and both displaying during the 
summer, in the most vigorous manner, the functions 
of foliation and fructification. Thus it is, by reason 
of these excessive variations of summer and winter 



8o THE ORIGIN OF PRAIRIES. 

temperature, an American forest presents an assem- 
blage of trees and a variety of foliage, of which 
Europe affords no parallel. The former has about 
one hundred and twenty different species, while 
the latter has only thirty-four. 

In the forests adjacent to the Great Lakes, the 
Coniferous or Pine tribe is largely predominant. 
While this group occupies a region little prized for 
agriculture, by reason of the poverty of the soil 
and the rigor of the climate, it is fortunately con- 
tio:uous to a region where both of these conditions 
are wanting, and where the presence of dense for- 
ests would be a serious obstacle to the development 
of the country. 

Taking root in a soil which may contain but two 
per cent, of organic matter, and which, but for its 
vegetable covering, would become a mass of drift- 
ing sands, the white pine (^P. strobus) becomes the 
monarch of our forests, symmetrical in form where 
grown in the open air, and the most valuable of all 
our trees when felled for lumber. I cite this exam- 
ple to illustrate the fact, that certain forms of vege- 
tation are far more dependent for their growth upon 
a regular supply of moisture, than upon the quan- 
tity of organic matter in the soil. 

While the sub-arctic types, in their southern pro- 
longation, cling to the crests of the Alleghanies, 
there are other types, characteristic of a more tem- 



ZONES OF VEGETATION. 8 1 

perate climate, such as the oak, the hickoiy, and 
tulip, which clothe the slopes; and still other types, 
such as the mulberry, black-walnut, papaw, buck- 
eye, honey-locust, and persimmon, which seek the 
rich, mellow bottoms. 

While the geographical range of certain arbo- 
rescent forms is mainly limited, north and south, 
by the conditions of temperature^ their eastern 
and western range, taking the Alleghanies as the 
axis, is limited by the conditions of moisture', and 
these limits are more circumscribed by the latter 
cause than by the former. 

The eastern rim of the Mississippi Valley con- 
tains many characteristic trees which are but feebly 
represented Avhere the prairies commence, and dis- 
appear altogether beyond the Missouri, where the}^ 
assume their full development. On the other hand, 
vegetable forms are not represented on the eastern 
margin, which attain their full development as we 
approach the base of the Rocky Mountains. These 
changes are wholly independent of isothermal lines, 
but dependent on the variable supply of moisture. 

Alternate Wood and Prairie. — In this zone, 
we would include the region between the eastern 
shore of Lake Michigan and the eastern slope of 
the Missouri Basin, in Iowa, latitude 42° N., longi- 
tude 95° W.j and thence the western boundar}^ is 
6 



82 THE ORIGIN OF PRAIRIES. 

protracted a little west of south, towards the mouth 
of the Rio Grande. This line is far from being 
well-defined, since the trees follow all of the great 
valleys of the Mississippi and Missouri, to within 
five or six hundred miles of the Rocky Mountains. 

With regard to the botany of this region, Dr. 
J. G. Cooper, who has paid much attention to the 
geographical distribution of plants in the United 
States, remarks, that " no new forms of trees appear, 
while those found farther eastward rapidly dimin- 
ish towards the west. Thirteen species have not 
been traced west of its eastern border; about ninety 
extend pretty far into the Texan and Illinois regions; 
but only five or six cross the eastern limit of the 
Camanche and Dacotah regions, which, however, 
receive nine more from the west and south." The 
cause of the disappearance of trees, he attributes 
to the deficient and irregular supply of moisture. 
" It is true," he adds, " that this does not materially 
affect agriculture in the more eastern regions; in 
fact, most crops will succeed better with less rain 
than is necessary for most trees to thrive." * 

It is in this region that the grasses become 
predominant over the forest, usurping, for the most 
part, the high and dry rolls, and hedging the trees 
to the immediate' valle3's, or to such uplands as 
have a stiff, clayey, retentive soil. That the limits 

* " Smithsonian Report," 1S58. 



ZONES OF VEGETATION. 8 



O 



of the forest were not more extended in former 
times, is evident from the fact that the sloughs yield 
no entombed trunks of trees which, we know, in 
other regions, are preserved for an indefinite period 
of time. 

The differences in the retentive power of moist- 
ure in the soil, give to the eastern line of the prairie- 
region an irregular outline, which may be likened 
to a deeply-indented coast, — far-entering bays, pro- 
jecting headlands, and an archipelago of islands. 

What are known as "oak openings," indicate 
the transition from the densely-wooded region to 
the treeless plains. The trees stand as in an arti- 
ficial park, shading a green-sward devoid of under- 
brush, so that the traveler may ride or drive in any 
direction. This characteristic feature I have noticed 
almost continuously from Green Bay to the western 
borders of Arkansas. The trees appear dwnrfed 
and sickly; the extremities are often dead, while 
the main body is covered with foliage, and the 
trunks, when felled, are found to be more or less 
decayed. * 

* As illustrative of the retentive power of a soil in modifying vege- 
tation, I would state that, in the lead-bearing region of Wisconsin, the 
Galena limestone is a porous rock, intersected by numerous fissures; 
and hence, where it prevails, we almost invariably find a growth of 
scrub-oaks or prairie-grass. In the denudation of that region, dur- 
ing the Drift-period, there were left behind patches of the Cincinnati 
blue limestone, which is here a shale decomposing into clay, and is 
much more retentive of moisture than the subjacent formation. 

These patches form forest-crowned mounds, and are so distinct 



84 THE ORIGIN OF PRAIRIES. 

The change in the character of the grasses and 
herbaceous plants is more marked, even, than in 
the trees. These are largely Compositce, with the 
genera Helianthus^ Actinonieris^ Coi'eopsis^ Echi- 
nacea, etc. The compass-plant (ySilphiiim la- 
ciniatiini), which arranges the margin of its leaf 
north and south with so much uniformity that the 
traveler, in a cloudy day, may determine the direc- 
tion of the magnetic meridian, forms one of the 
most noticeable plants of the prairie. 

These plants are the pioneers of a more marked 
change in a vegetation which finds its full develop- 
ment still farther in the interior of the Continent, 
and may be regarded, I think, as the unerring index 
of a change in the conditions of humidity in the 
atmosphere. 

Vast Grassy Plains, tvitJi Trees restricted to 
the immediate banks of the Streams. — This is 
the character of the country between the Missouri 
River and the base of the Rocky Mountains; but 
as the traveler advances from east to west, he 
begins to notice increasing signs of dryness in the 
atmosphere, and of a more marked continental cli- 

in character from the general plain, that the geologist can map 
the boundaries of the two formations, without an examination of the 
respective strata, — the vegetation of the one being dwarfed, while 
that of the other is luxuriant. Such is the origin of the Sinsinowa, 
Blue, and Scales's Mounds, Gratiot's Grove, and several other forest- 
crowned eminences. 



ZONES OF VEGETATION. 85 

mate. The rain-fall becomes insufficient for the 
cultivation of crops, and the diurnal changes of 
temperature are too abrupt to permit the growing 
and maturing of the sub-tropical plants cultivated 
for food. The thermometer may rise to 70° or 80"^ 
at mid-day, and drop to below the freezing-point at 
night. Not a cloud, for days, dims the lustre of 
the sun; and at night, are shed no refreshing dews. 
The purity of the air is so great that wild meats are 
cured without the aid of salt, and the grasses dry 
up without a loss of their nutritive properties. 
Surrounded by a medium so dry, elastic, and brac- 
ing, the voyageur toils under a heat of 90° without 
exciting excessive perspiration, and at the same 
time his system is proof against the chilling air of 
the night. Those stifling and enervating heats, and 
those cold and disagreeable storms, characteristic 
of the humid regions to the east, are here unknown, 
and the atmosphere itself becomes highly elec- 
trical. 

There are other indications of an arid climate. 
The soil becomes sandy and porous; the surface, in 
places, is covered with incrustations of soda and 
gypsum; and the streams are rendered unpalatable 
b}' reason of the solution of these salts in their 
waters. Such phenomena occur in most regions 
where evaporation is equal to precipitation. Where 
there is an excess of precipitation, the water leaches 



86 THE ORIGIN OF PRAIRIES. 

out these salts from the soil, and bears them to the 
ocean. 

Salt lakes and saline efflorescences were ob- 
served by Stevens, as far east as longitude ioi°, 
northw^est of the sources of the Mississippi; by 
Fremont, in longitude ioo°, south of the Platte; 
and by Marcy, in longitude ioi°, on the Red River. 
They extend even farther east, as salt-flats have 
been observed near the Red River of the North; 
in Nebraska, w^ithin seventy miles of Omaha; in 
Kansas, seventy-five miles northwest of Fort Riley, 
and in the valleys of the Republican, Saline, and 
Solomon Rivers; on the Great Bend of the Arkan- 
sas, in beds from six to twenty inches deep; and 
between the Arkansas and Canadian, as far east as 
longitude 97°. 

The vegetation indicates a similar change of 
climatic conditions. While the cotton-wood, the 
box-elder, and occasionally a dwarfed red-cedar, 
are almost the only representatives of the noble 
forests to the east, and these hug the moist alluvium 
of the streams, there are other forms which here 
attain their full development. These are the arte- 
misia, the cactus, and the buffalo or bunch grass. 

The artemisia (^A. tridentata) first attracts 
attention on the Kansas River, as far east as longi- 
tude 95°, but it attains a ranker development nearer 
the base of the Mountains, where saline efflores- 



ZONES OF VEGETATION. 87 

cences are more common, and its full development 
in the Great Basin. The narrative of every explorer 
contains notices of the " interminable deserts " of 
wild sage. Fremont ("Expedition of 1842,") 
remarks: 

" With the change in the geological formation, on leaving 
Fort Laramie, the whole face of the country has entirely 
altered its appearance. Eastward of that meridian, the prin- 
cipal objects which strike the eye of the traveler are the absence 
of timber, and the immense expanse of prairie, covered with 
the verdure of rich grasses, and highly adapted to pasturage. 
* * * Westward of Laramie River, the region is sandy, 
and apparently sterile ; and the place of the grass is usurped 
by the artemisia and other odoriferous plants, to whose growth 
the dry air and sandy soil of this region are favorable. * * * 
They grow every where, — on the hills and over the river-bot- 
toms, in tough, twisted, wiry clumps ; and wherever the beaten 
track was left, they rendered the progress of the carts rough 
and slow. As the country increased in elevation, they increased 
in size ; and the whole air is strongly impregnated and satu- 
rated with the odor of camphor and spirits of turpentine which 
belongs to this plant." 

Bigelow, on the journey between Fort Smith and 
Santa Fe, does not record the occurrence of this 
plant. 

The cactus is another characteristic form of an 
arid climate. Although occasionally seen as the 
prickly pear on the sandy shores of Lake Michigan, 
and within the sparsely-wooded belt of southern 
Missouri, yet on the Plains it puts on a variety of 
forms, and attains, at times, tree-like dimensions. 



88 THE ORIGIN OF PRAIRIES. 

Bigelow notes the occurrence of Ofuntia as far 
east as Fort Smith. The Llano Estacado, how- 
ever, is emphatically the region of the cacti, which 
ascend even the slopes of the mountains, as at Santa 
Fe. Fremont remarks that there " cacti become 
rare, and mosses begin to dispute the hills with 
them," — a conclusive evidence of the increasing 
humidity of the air; for lichens and mosses are the 
first to attach themselves to trees and rocks, where 
they pave the way for the higher orders of plants. 
The crests of the Sierra Madre, which are suffi- 
ciently high to condense the moisture which is 
withheld from the plains, become clothed with 
arborescent forms, such as the Douglas pine, the 
Mexican 3''ellow-pine (^PlTioii) and the balsam-fir. 
Accustomed as we are to see the Cactacece culti- 
vated as hot-house plants, we can form very imper- 
fect ideas of their luxuriance and magnificence 
where they flourish in their native arid wilds, — 
some of them rising in candelabra-like forms, or 
like the pipes of an organ, to the height of thirty 
or forty feet. One species {^Cei'eus giganteus)^ it 
is said, on the Gila, reaches sixty feet, and shoots 
up twenty-five or thirty feet without a branch, 
yielding an edible fruit much prized by the natives. 
The melon-cactus contains within its prickl}^ envel- 
ope a watery pulp which the mule, parching with 
thirst, opens with his foot and extracts with his lips. 



ZONES OF VEGETATION. 89 

The cactus is characteristic of the arid reo-ion both 
of North and South America, but is rarely seen 
under Hke conditions in the eastern hemisphere. 

The buffalo or " grama " grass, of which there 
are several species, is another marked type of the 
Plains. It grows in tufts, having a narrow, slender 
leaf, and where it exists in all its perfection, the 
surface of the soil resembles a sheep-lawn. It 
dies down under the heats of summer, and the cli- 
mate is so dry that its nutritive properties are pre- 
served; and thus, at all seasons of the year, it affords 
sustenance to the immense herds of buffalo which 
roam over the plains. Bigelow first noticed its 
appearance on a small branch of the Canadian, 
about longitude 96°, and it extends thence to the 
Sierra Nevada. On the Smoky-Hill route, I have 
observed it about thirty miles west of Fort Riley. 

Vc7s^ Arid Plains, often bare of Vegetation^ 
and covered, to some extent, 'with Saline Incrusta- 
tions. — The Rocky Mountains form a well-marked 
division in the climatology of the United States, 
both in reference to the fertility of soil and the dis- 
tribution of plants. Newberry has remarked that, 
while on the eastern slope, we have immense grass}'' 
plains, large accumulations of detrital materials, 
and a gently-rolling surface; on the western slope, 
we have large tracts of sandy wastes, of rocky sur- 



90 ORIGIN OF THE PRAIRIES. 

faces bare of covering, and intersected by numerous 
and deep cailons, so intricate as to bewilder and 
impede the explorer. The Great Basin and the 
Colorado Desert occupy the region between the 
Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada, from the 
head of the Gulf of California as far north as lati- 
tude 42°, and in many respects present physical 
aspects not elsewhere recognized in North Amer- 
ica. 

The Great Basin. — This remarkable plateau 
has a lake and river system of its own, and is cut 
oft' from communication with the sea. It embraces 
an area, triangular in shape, of 700 miles in length 
and 500 in width. It is elevated from 4,000 to 6,000 
feet above the ocean, and is traversed by bare and 
rocky ridges, having a general parallelism with the 
intervening valleys, which are of a desert-like char- 
acter, and are sprinkled over with the ever-present 
artemisia. Throughout, hot springs and salt lakes 
abound, the most notable of the latter class being 
the Great Salt Lake, whose outlines have been 
faithfull}^ mapped by Stansbury. ^ 

* The water, according to Stansburj, (" Expedition to the Great 
Salt Lake,") contains more than twenty per cent, of chloride of sodium, 
and is so buoyant that, in bathing, a man may float, stretched at full 
length on his back, having most of his person above water. In a sit- 
ting posture, the shoulders remain above the surface. The brine is so 
strong that the least particle getting into the eyes, causes the most 
acute pain. Whole tracts of land on the borders of this lake are cov- 



ZONES OF VEGETATION. 9 1 

The Dead Sea, with its river Jordan, here finds 
its counterpart. Its bleak and rugged shores are 
without a tree to relieve the eye, and its waters 
apart from animalculae sustain no organic life. 

The mountains which rim this Basin are suffi- 
ciently high to condense the vapors of the clouds 
and cause them to descend in showers, thus forming 
the sources of streams which, as they reach the 
margin of the valleys, are absorbed by the thirsty 
soil. Hence, the plains are absolute deserts, whilst 
the slopes are clothed with grama grass. Salt 
beds and alkali flats are abundant. " They are sit- 
uated," says Ross Brown, " in valleys from which 
the waters, having no escape, are spread out over 
large surfaces, and soon evaporate, leaving the salt 
and other substances behind. ^ * Upon the great 
saliniferous fields of Nye county, Nevada, millions 
of tons could be shoveled up, lying dry and pure 
upon the surface, to a depth varying from six inches 
to three feet." * 

The salt is extensively used in the metallurgy 
of the silver ores which occur so abundantly in 
Nevada. 

The mountains almost every where, except where 

ered with saline incrustations having all the puritj of snow-flakes, and 
the amount in one field, ten miles long and seven miles broad, was 
estimated at 100,000,000 of bushels, — equal in bulk to the entire wheat 
crop of the United States. 

* " Mineral Resources of the United States." 1S67. 



92 THE ORIGIN OF PRAIRIES. 

they reach the snow-line, are clothed with forests 
of pine, spruce, and fir, of sufficient size to afford 
the materials for lumber. 

The Sierra Nevada. — Bounding the Great Basin 
on the west, as with a wall, is the Sierra Nevada. 
The vapors rolled up from the Pacific are here 
arrested and wrung of their moisture; and hence, 
each side of the axis is distinguished by well- 
marked differences in climate and vegetable forms. 
The sea-ward slope is densely wooded, and contains 
many peculiar forms, among which is a species of 
red-wood {^Sequoia gigantea)^ the monarch of 
all arborescent forms. * 

* Many of the trees of the Pacific Coast are peculiar. Among them 
may be mentioned : 

Pinus lambertiana (Sugar Pine). It grows to tlie heiglitof 200 feet. 
The grain is so straight that shingles and clap-boards may be rifted out 
of the trunk. Whitney speaks of it thus : " The sugar pine is the 
grandest tree. It occurs at all altitudes between 3,000 and 4.000 feet, 
but attains its greatest dimensions between 4,000 and 5,000 feet, where 
it is frequently 300 feet in height. Its trunk is perfectly straight, its 
head syinmetrical, and from the slightly-drooping ends of its horizon- 
tal branches, the enormous cones hang down in bunches of two or 
three, like tassels. One tree, measured by us, was found to be 300 feet 
high, without a flaw or curve in its trunk, and only seven feet in diam- 
eter at its base. These forests are rather open, the trees being seldom 
densely aggregated; and, owing to the dryness of the air, their trunks 
are very free from mosses and lichens." (" Geology of California," 

P- 336-) 

P. fondcrosa (Pitch Pine). The wood is very coarse and durable, 
and well-fitted for the purposes of construction. 

P. sabiniana (Sabine's Pine.) Grows to the height of 150 feet. 
Timber soft and durable. 

P. itisi'gnis (Seal Pine). A noble tree, with bright grass-green leaves. 

Abies douglasii (Douglas Fir). A tree characteristic of the northern 



ZONES OF VEGETATION. 93 

As we descend the slopes towards the sea, 
where the conditions of moisture are less constant, 
we encounter chanj^^es in the vegetable forms so 
abrupt as at once to attract observation. 

The forests of California are mainly restricted to 
the sea-coast or the mountain slopes, while the 
longitudinal valleys are covered with herbaceous 
plants, with trees bordering the immediate banks 
of the streams, — presenting features not unlike the 
prairie region of the Mississippi Valley. From 
May to November is the dry season, in which rain 
rarely falls, and clouds and mists rarely veil the 

Pacific coast, from latitude 40° to Alaska, and only found east of the 
Cascade Range. This is principally the timber used at the saw-mills 
on Puget's Sound, and is both strong and durable; in fact, says Ross 
Brown, it is the strongest timber on the Coast, both in perpendicular 
pressure and horizontal strain. According to experiments made in 
France, at the imperial dock at Toulon, masts from this tree are supe- 
rior to the best Riga spars. In flexibility and tenacitj^ of fibre, these 
trees are rarely surpassed ; they may be bent and twisted several 
times in contrary directions without breaking, and they possess other 
rare qualities, such as superficial dimensions, strength, lightness, and 
absence of knots. ("Mineral Resources of the United States," 1S68.) 

There are other pines which occur on the Rocky Mountain Slope, 
deserving of notice : 

P. edulis (Piiion of the Mexicans), grows from 40 to 50 feet high. 
The seed is about the size of a hazel-nut, and is used as food by the 
Indians. 

P. fiexilis (Rocky Mountain White Pine), has many of the qualities 
of the P. strobus of the East. Dr. James, who first discovered it, 
asserts that its nuts are edible. It is used as a lumber tree. 

The Balsam Fir (P. abi'es), and Red Cedar {ynuipcrus virgiiiiaua), 
range from the Atlantic to the Mountains. The latter maintains its 
existence, with great tenacity, nearly to the base of the Mountains, 
and reappears upon their flanks. 

All the species of firs, according to Whitney, are very beautiful. 



94 THE ORIGIN OF PRAIRIES. 

sun; under whose intense rays the temperature 
often rises to ii2°-i 15°, vegetation is consumed, the 
soil cracks and bakes, and the germination of seeds 
is etfectually arrested. With the setting in of the 
autumnal rains, vegetation at once quickens into 
life, and the surface becomes clothed with a green- 
sward, interspersed with a multitude of variously- 
tinted- flowers.* These effects are clearly traceable 

They attain a large size, are very symmetrical in their growth, and 
have a very dark-green and brilliant foliage, which is very fragrant. 
The branches are often regularly and pinnately divided, producing a 
" most brilliant effect. The color of the skj' is perceptibly darker, as 
seen through this peculiar foliage, raised in a canopy so high above 
the observer." 

Sequoia sempervirens (Red-wood). A noble tree, growing 200 feet 
in height, with a trunk ten feet in diameter; wood soft, durable, and 
easily wrought; one of the most valuable lumber trees on the Pacific 
Coast, and in the absence of its namesake would be regarded as the 
giant of the forest. 

S. gigantca (Giant Red-wood). The most colossal of all forms of 
forest growth. One prostrate trunk, according to Blake, (•' Pacific Rail- 
road Survey,") must have been 450 feet in height, and 45 feet in diam- 
eter. The Mariposa grove, containing these trees, is scattered over 
an extent of six miles or more, and includes about six hundred trees. 
They stand in groups of twos and threes. The largest is 102 feet in 
circumference, and there are four others which exceed 100 feet. There 
are other groves, but the trees have no great geographical range, and 
it is to be feared that they are undergoing the process of extinction. 
From the number of annular rings counted on some of the prostrate 
trunks, the age indicated was not less than 1,300 years. The British 
botanists were the first to become aware of this gigantic tree, and gave 
it the name of Wellingtonia. American botanists proposed the name 
of Washingtoriia, but they could not assert priority of discovery. It 
is found, however, to belong to the genus Sequoia, and, hence, must 
bear that name. 

Mariposa grove is included in the grant made by Congress, of the 
Yosemite Valley, to the State of California, to be used as a public 
paik; and it is to be hoped that these noble trees will be preserved. 

* See Newberry's " Botanical Report," in "Pacific Railroad Reports." 



ZONES OF VEGETATION. 95 

to the unequal supply of moisture. The Coast 
Ranges absorb whatever is derived from the local 
w^inds of the Pacific, and the melting snows of the 
Sierra water the mountain-slopes, while the valleys 
are given up to unmitigated drought. These con- 
ditions fully explain the limits of tree and herba- 
ceous growth. 

The Toseniite Valley^ though illustrating no 
meteorological fact, forms one of the most marked 
physical features, not only of California, but of the 
world. A narrow valley, walled in by precipices 
two and three thousand feet in height, with a great 
dome 4,600 feet in height, dominating over the 
whole; a cataract, falling with an unbroken plunge 
1,600 feet, another 950 feet, and still another of 350 
feet, whose waters at length commingle in a 
river known as the Merced, which winds its way 
through grassy meadows, occasionally expanding 
into pools, from whose glassy surface is faithfully 
reflected every tint, not mingled, but sharply- 
defined, of rock, tree, and sky; — the whole forms 
a combined scene of rugged grandeur and pictur- 
esque beauty, which is probably unequaled on the 
face of the earth. 

Thus, then, the traveler, in crossing the Continent 
from east to west, passes through every gradation, 
from a luxuriant forest-growth to one completely 



96 THE ORIGIN OF PRAIRIES. 

bare of all vegetation; and, in his progress, is 
impressed with the constantly-increasing signs of 
aridity, until he comes within the influence of the 
moist breath of the Pacific Ocean. 



SOURCES OF MOISTURE. 

Let us now inquire into the sources of moisture 
which fertilizes the Continent, and its mode of dis- 
tribution. 

1. The rains which water the Atlantic Slope are 
equally distributed., the variations between the 
four seasons being very slight. 

2. Those which water the Mississippi Valley are 
unequally distributed., those of spring and summer 
being greatly in excess; a fact which has been over- 
looked by most meteorologists, in reference to the 
geographical distribution of plants. 

3. Those which water the Californian Coast are 
-periodic, marking a well-defined wet and dry sea- 
son. 

In examining Blods^et's Rain-Chart of the United 
States, showing the mean distribution for the year, 
we find that, leaving out the Pacific Slope and the 
extreme peninsula of Florida, the greatest precipi- 
tation is in the vicinity of Pensacola, where it annu- 
ally reaches 6^ inches. This area is extremel}'" 
limited, and presents a rounded outline, from 



AMOUNT OF RAIN-FALL. 97 

which the lines of diminished precipitation rapidly 
decrease in intensity, like the eddying circles from 
the point where a stone first strikes the water. The 
Alleghanies, so far from condensing the vapors and 
causing increased precipitation, seem to serve only 
as an entering wedge to separate the vapor-bearing 
currents, and cause a more copious precipitation on 
their slopes than on their crests. The Great Lakes, 
too, instead of generating moisture to be distributed 
over the adjacent regions, seem to repel it; so that 
it is dryer in their immediate basins than on the 
plateaux which surround them. 

When we examine the precipitation of rain, as 
distributed over the four seasons, there is, owing to 
the two systems of equal and unequal distribution, 
a strange inosculation of lines. 

Winter. — The mouths of the Mississippi and the 
region of Pensacola are in the area of greatest pre- 
cipitation (i8 inches). From this centre, the lines 
of equal precipitation on the west, maintaining a 
considerable parallelism, first bear northwest along 
the Texas coast; then, rapidly curving, bear north- 
east; then east; and, as they leave the Continent, 
northeast. 

The conditions of moisture are as follows: 



V 



98 THE ORIGIN OF PRAIRIES. 

In the Densely-Wooded Region, . 18 to 7 inches. 
In the Prairie Region, . . . 5 to 3 " 

On tlie Treeless Plains, . . 2 " 

Autumn. — The mouths of the Mississippi and 
the region of Pensacola are within the area of 
greatest precipitation (12 inches). The lines of 
equal precipitation pursue a north-northeast direc- 
tion, and, in the distribution of moisture, exhibit the 
following results: 

In the Densely- Wooded Region, . 12 to 8 inches. 
In the Prairie Region, . . 8 to 5 " 

On the Treeless Plains, . . 4 " 

Stcmmer. — The lines of summer precipitation, 
owing to the operation of the law of unequal dis- 
tribution, are very irregular. On the Plains, they 
bear nearly north and south; but, as protracted 
east, they make one curvature to the south, as the}'' 
approach Lake Michigan, and another, still more 
abrupt, as they approach the Alleghanies, equal to 
five degrees of latitude, — after passing which, they 
curve abruptly to the northeast. The conditions 
of moisture are as follows: 

In the Densely- Wooded Region, . 15 to 12 inches. 
In the Prairie Region, . 12 to 8 " 

On the Treeless Plains, . , 8 to 4 " 



AMOUNT OF RAIN-FALL. 99 

Spring. — The lines of equal precipitation 
exhibit a remarkable deflection to the northwest, 
caused, as we shall show, by the prevailing sum- 
mer winds, and which, but for this deflection, 
would render the region at the base of the Rocky 
Mountains an uninhabitable desert. While the 
mouths of the Mississippi and the region of Pensa- 
cola still receive the greatest amount of precipita- 
tion (15 inches). Fort Laramie, on the Plains, is 
nearly as well watered as New York, on the sea 
board (lo inches); and Chicago receives no more 
rain than falls in Cheyenne, at the base of the 
Rocky Mountains (8 inches). 

There is this noticeable fact, illustrated in the 
preceding remarks: that while, on the Atlantic 
Slope, the precipitation is prett}^ equally distributed 
over the four seasons, the tendency to unequal pre- 
cipitation, comparing spring and summer with 
autumn and winter, begins to manifest itself on the 
Prairies, and as we enter the Plains it becomes still 
more marked, — the fall, and especially the winter, 
being the dry season. 

Making a section across the Continent, from 
New York to San Francisco, we have the follow- 
ing results : 



lOO 



ORIGIN OF THE PRAIRIES. 



MEAN ANNUAL PRECIPITATION. 



STATIONS. 


SPRING. 


SUMMER. 


AUTUMN. 


WINTER. 


YEAR. 


New York 1 

Ann Arbor3 

Fort Leavenworth 3 . 

Fort Riley* 

Fort Laramie 5 

Fort Yuma « 

San Francisco T .... 


"•55 
7 -SO 
7.93 
7.91 
S.69 
0.27 
7-56 


"•33 

11.20 
12.24 

7-15 
5-70 
1.30 
1.09 


10.30 
7.00 

7-33 
5-58 
3-96 
0.S6 
2.96 


9-63 
3.10 

2-75 
1.26 
1.63 
0.72 

11-34 


42.23 
28.60 
30.29 
21.90 
19.98 

3-15 
21.95 



1 Wooded. 2 Verge of Prairie. 3 4 5 Prairie. 6 Desert. i Periodical Rains. 



Contrasting the two stations, New York and 
Fort Laramie, it will be seen that on the sea-board 
about 48 per cent, of the yearly precipitation occurs 
during the fall and winter, while on the Plains only 
25 per cent, occurs during that period; and that, 
while on the sea-board the precipitation is nearly 
uniform during the four seasons, three-fourths of 
the precipitation on the Plains occurs during the 
Spring and summer months. 

At Fort Riley, the immediate valley of the Kaw 
is well-wooded, and the trees derive moisture, apart 
from the annual precipitation, from the stream itself; 
but when we ascend the bluffs which line its shores, 
the eye roams over a region of bold, rounded out- 
lines, without a tree or a shrub to break the mono- 
tony of the scene. 



AMOUNT OF RAIN-FALL. lOI 

A region where the annual precipitation is 
slightly in excess of twenty inches, I infer from 
observation, is unfavorable to the growth of trees, 
even were that moisture equally distributed; but 
where three-fourths of it is precipitated during the 
spring and summer, the grasses flourish and mature 
to the exclusion of arborescent forms. The effect 
of this peculiarity of the climate is to extend the 
cultivation of the cereals much farther west than 
could be done, if the moisture were equally distri- 
buted, and to aflbrd rich pasturage to immense 
herds of buftalo, up to the verge of the Rocky 
Mountains, over a region which, if the rains were 
equall}^ distributed, would present still more inhos- 
pitable features. 

Calif 07'7iia. — Turning now to California, we 
find that far different conditions prevail, and new 
elements enter into the combination. There, a 
well-defined wet and dr}^ season is observed, — 86 
per cent, of the annual precipitation of rain taking 
place during the winter and spring, and nearly 50 
per cent, during the winter. While, therefore, 
winter is the dry season on the Plains, it is the sea- 
son of most profuse rains on the California coast, — 
a pretty conclusive proof that the vapor-bearing 
winds which water the Plains, do not come from 
the southwest. 



I02 THE ORIGIN OF PRAIRIES. 

More than one writer on the Climatology of the 
United States, * has maintained that the moisture 
which bathes the Continent is mainly derived from 
the Pacific Ocean, and distributed by the great 
southwest current of winds, without taking into 
consideration how far that current is modified by 
the configuration of the Continent. 

If this theory of a southwest origin of the moist- 
ure be true, we should justly infer that the winds 
of the Pacific, however highly charged, and apart 
from a great mountain barrier, in passing over 17° 
of longitude, would become dry winds long before 
reaching the Atlantic Slope, and the conditions of 
the fertility of the Continent would be reversed. 
The AUeghanies would be as desolate as the Purple 

* It may be stated that tlie National Observatory at Washington, 
under the control of the Navy Department, and maintained by liberal 
appropriations from Congress, was for years in charge of Lieutenant 
Maury ; and among the fruits of his labors was a work on the " Physi- 
cal Geography of the Sea," in which it was maintained that the moist- 
ure wliich waters this Continent is taken up from the Pacific Ocean 
and carried into the higher regions, and then precipitated by a descend- 
ing current, first striking the land in the region of Salt Lake, among 
the most desolate portions of the United States. 

Berghaus and Johnston (" Physical Atlas ") have mapped the United 
States as being mainly in the belt of southwest winds; and Coffin, by 
tabulating numerous results ("Smithsonian Institute Contributions,") 
has shown the existence of a great westerly current, north of the par- 
allel 35", and about 233^0° in breadth, which encircles the globe. 

The winds which water the Great Valley, as will be seen, are the 
result of the peculiar configuration of the coast adjacent to the Gulf 
of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, by which they are diverted from 
their uniform course; and that diversion explains the phenomena of 
our climatology. 



SOURCE OF MOISTURE. I03 

Hills, and the Colorado Desert would be as fertile 
as the Valley of the Shenandoah. 

Source of Aloisture. — That portion of the Con- 
tinent which embraces the United States, is situated 
in the zone of southwest winds, and these winds 
are found to prevail with wonderful regularity on 
the Atlantic, north of the calms of Cancer; but in 
the region of the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of 
Mexico, there are abnormal conditions which pre- 
sent a marked deviation from the fixedness and 
uniformity observable in the winds of the mid- 
Atlantic and the north of Africa. Both southerly 
and northerly winds blow with violence across the 
parallel 30° (in the belt of the calms of Cancer) 
which, away fi'om the American continent, acts as 
a great wall between the southwest and northeast 
winds. In the summer season, the northeast trades, 
hot and moist from the equatorial zone, as they 
enter the Caribbean Sea, are deflected by the lofty 
chain of the Andes which girds the coast, and pass 
into the Gulf of Mexico, where they become inland 
breezes on the Coast of Texas; and as they pene- 
trate the interior, they are gradually deflected east, 
until they reach about latitude 39°, when they 
assume the direction of the great southwest aerial 
current. It is this deviation from the regular flow, 



I04 THE ORIGIN OF PRAIRIES. 

which gives to the Mississippi Valley its moist, 
tropical summer climate, 

Volney was the first to point out this deflection: 

"Mariners relate that from Cape Vela, a projecting point of 
the Gulf of Maracaybo, the winds vary and swerve into a course 
parallel to the stream which flows into the Caribbean Sea. On 
entering the Bay of Honduras, it veers a little, and blows from 
the southeast. The bank of sand called Yucatan, is interposed 
between the two bays, but is so low and level that it is no 
obstacle to its progress. Bernaixl de Orto, who has published 
some useful information on the winds of Vera Cruz, tells us 
that southeast winds prevail in those parts." 

He further adds that the trade-winds are deflected 
by the table-lands of Mexico, and become the south 
winds of the Mississippi Valley. Redfield admits 
that it is to this current that the Mississippi Valley 
owes its fertility; and Russell, whose work I have 
consulted with satisfaction, sustains the same view.* 

Blodget remarks that southeast winds prevail 
almost exclusively, from April to October, or dur- 
ing the whole period of the warm months, when 
the western plains receive their excess of moisture. 
" These winds are also stronger at the most distant 
of these posts from the sea, — a proof that the im- 
pulse is not wholly at the coast, but that some ade- 

* Russell, Robert, in his work on " North America, its Agriculture 
and Climate," elaborately discusses this question, and calls attention 
to the remarkable generalization of Volnej, made at a time when no 
wind or rain charts were available. Russell has overlooked the earlier 

gcnerali.;.LLions of Blodiiet, and the facts on which they are founded. 



SOURCE OF MOISTURE. I05 

quate cause, at least for their continuance, exists in 
the interior." " There is no preponderance of these 
winds at Fort Scott or Fort Leavenworth." * At 
Natchez, the winds are southerly and easterly to 
the extent of one-third; at St. Louis, according to 
Engelman, the south and southeast winds are the 
prevailing ones from April to October, in the other 
months the west and northwest; at Cincinnati, 
according to Dr. Ray, west and southwest winds 
are the prevailing ones the year round. Thus, 
" these statistics are decisive," says Blodget, " that 
the southerly winds have ceased before reaching 
Cincinnati." 

Humphreys and Abbot remark: 

"Diagrams of the winds have been plotted from the 'Army 
IMeteorological Observations,' for five years, at Key West, 
from June, 1S50, to June, 1S54, and also for the year from 
June, iS^r, to June, 1853, at the same place. Similar dia- 
grams have been made from the wind observations of the 
Delta Survey, at Fort St. Philip, and at Carrollton. The great 
resemblance between tlic winds at Key West and those near 
the mouth of the ISIississippi, is apparent when these diagrams 
are compared. Both have, in part, the characteristics of the 
northeast trade-winds. Blowing chiefly between northeast and 
southeast, they veer towards the south as summer approaches, 
and continue to blow from that quarter and from the east 
during the summer and early part of the autumn ; changing 
towards the north upon the approach of winter, they blow 
principally from that direction during the winter months." f 

* " Climatology of the United States." 

f "Physics and Hydraulics of the Mississippi River." 



Io6 THE ORIGIN OF PRAIRIES. 

This course conforms, too, to the track usually 
pursued by the great hurricanes which, originating 
in the West Indies, first blow southeast, then curve 
abruptly, and sweep the Atlantic Coast in a north- 
east direction. 

Periodical Rains of California. — The Pacific 
Slope affords another illustration of the law, every 
where observed, of diverse climates on opposite 
sides of a great mountain chain. It is evident that 
the high lands in Central America interrupt the 
flow of the northeast winds between the Gulf of 
Mexico and the Pacific Coast, giving origin to two 
distinct systems of aerial circulation. That of the 
Pacific Coast appears to partake of the periodical 
character of the Tropics, there being well-defined 
monsoons, whose movements are dependent on 
the sun. As in autumn he retires southward, the 
southwest winds, charged with the moisture of 
the Pacific, set in and water the land, until they 
strike the crests of the Sierra, where they part with 
the remainder of their moisture, and flow over the 
Great Basin as dry winds. As the sun returns 
north, an opposite set of winds become predomi- 
nant. Day after day and month after month, the 
sun flames in an unclouded sky; and under the 
intensity of his rays, vegetation withers and shrivels 
up, and the ground bakes and cracks as if in an oven. 



PERIODICAL RAINS. I07 

At few places on the earth's surface does the ther- 
mometer mark a higher range of temperature than 
at Fort INIiller, amid the foot-hills of the Sierra. 

Parry is of the opinion that the configuration of 
the southerly slope of the interior district between 
the Rio Grande and the Colorado Basin is such 
that, while it weakens the force of the cold northern 
currents, it permits the warm winds from the south 
to precipitate their moisture on the higher slopes in 
the form of summer rains and winter snows; and 
hence, we have in these elevated districts, a climate 
favoring the growth of trees, and a more equable 
precipitation of rain and dew throughout the year. 
These features are particularly noticeable along the 
elevated slopes of the San Francisco mountains, 
where magnificent pine forests are agreeably inter- 
spersed with grassy valleys and parks, and numer- 
ous springs, together with an invigorating atmos- 
phere. * 

The details embodied in this chapter may fail to 
enlist the attention of the general reader, but they 
contain the causes of the variable fertility of the 
Continent, and should be mastered by every one 
who would acquire a comprehensive knowledge of 
its Physical Geography. 

* Report on " Kansas Pacific Railroad," along the thirtj-fifth paral- 
lel. By C. C. Parry. 



Io8 THE ORIGIN OF PRAIRIES. 

CONCLUSIONS. 

Regarding, then, the Gulf of Mexico as the proxi- 
mate source of the rains which water the Great 
Valley, we can explain the following phenomena, 
which are inexplicable on the supposition that 
the southwest winds are the great vapor-bearing 
current : 

1. Why the greatest precipitation takes place 
along the shores of the Gulf of Mexico. 

2. Why the Llano Estacado, the Colorado Des- 
ert, and the Great Basin, almost wholly within the 
zone of the southwest winds, are dry. 

3. Why the Western Plains, during the spring 
and summer, are nearly as profusely watered as the 
Atlantic Slope. 

4. Why the Valley of the Mississippi, during the 
prevalence of these winds, has an almost tropical 
climate. 

5. And why the Atlantic Slope, instead of being 
the most arid, as it would be if the southwest winds 
furnished the moisture, is within the region of 
equally-distributed rains. 

Thus it is believed that a study of the physical 
features of this country, in connection with the pre- 
vailing winds, and the consequent distribution of 
moisture, and also in connection with the lines of 
equal temperature, will show: 



CONCLUSIONS. 



109 



1. That these great changes in the geographical 
distribution of plants, under nearly equal lines of 
temperature, are not due to the mechanical texture 
or chemical composition of the soil, but to the vari- 
able supplies of moisture. 

2. And that in the winds, as the agent in the 
distribution of that moisture, we have an adequate 
cause to explain all of the phenomena of forest, 
prairie, and desert. 



Note. — Since the completion of this Chapter, which is but an 
expansion of the views expressed hy me in a '• Report to the Illinois 
Central Railroad Companj'." in 1858, my attention has been directed 
to a Report " On the Flowering Plants and Ferns of Ohio," by Dr. J. 
S. Newberry, (i860,) in which that distinguished physicist holds the 
following language : 

1. " The great controlling influence which has operated to exclude 
trees from so large a portion of our territory west of the Mississippi, 
is unquestionably a deficiency of precipitated moisture. To this cause 
are due the prairies of Oregon, California, New Mexico, Utah, 
Nebraska, Kansas, Arkansas, and Texas. Throughout this great 
area, we find every variety of surface, and soil of every physical struc- 
ture, or chemical composition, — unless in exceptional circumstances, 
where it receives an unusual supply of moisture, — if not utterly sterile, 
covered with a coating of grass. 

2. "To the Great Plains, the typical prairies of the Far West, the 
theories proposed for the Origin of Prairies, viz. : that of Professor 
Whitney, that they are due to the fineness of soil ; or that of Mr. 
Lesquereux, that they are beds of ancient lakes; that of Mr. Desor, 
that they are the lower and level reaches of sea-bottom; or, finally, 
that which attributes them to annual fires; are alike wholly inappli- 
cable. 

3. ''The prairies bordering on, or east of, the Mississippi, maybe, 
and doubtless are partly or locally, due to one or more of the condi- 
tions suggested in the above theories; but even here, the great con- 
trolling infiuence has been the supply of water. The structure of the 
soil of the prairies coinciding with the extremes of want and supply 
of rain characteristic of the climate, have made them now too dry and 
now too wet for the healthy growth of trees. A sandy, gravelly or 



no THE ORIGIN OF PRAIRIES. 

rocky soil or subsoil, more thoroughly saturated with moisture and 
more deeply penetrated with the roots of forest trees, affords them con- 
stant supply of the fluid which to them is vital. This, as it seems to 
the writer, is the reason why the knolls and ridges, composed of coarser 
materials, are covered with trees; while the lower levels, with firmer 
soil, are prairies. Where great variation of level exists, the high lands 
are frequently covered with trees, in virtue of the greater precipitation 
of moisture which they enjoy." 

Dana (" Manual of Geology," 1863, p. 46), without going into details, 
announces the general result, thus : "That prairies, forest regions, 
and deserts, are located by the winds and temperature, in connection 
with the general configuration of the land." Cooper, before quoted, 
has shown the geographical distribution of plants; and Blodget, the 
annual precipitation of rain. But, to fully explain the Origin of Prai- 
ries, requires the combined observations of the Meteorologist, the 
Botanist, and the Geologist. 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE ORIGIN OF PRAIRIES {Continued^. 

SOUTH AMERICA PRIMEVAL FORESTS OF BRAZIL THE 

LLANOS OF CARACCAS THE PAMPAS OF LA PLATA AND THE 

GRAN CHACO PATAGONIA, ITS DESERTS AND MOUNTAINS 

PERU, AND THE DESERT OF ATACAMA WIND AND RAIN 

CHARTS EUROPE PLAINS OF THE BLACK SEA STEPPES 

OF THE CAUCASUS PLATEAU OF CENTRAL ASIA DESERT 

OF ARABIA AFRICA SAHARA GUINEA BASIN OF THE 

MEDITERRANEAN AUSTRALIA RESUME EXPLANATION 

OF MAP. 

A THEORY, such as we have announced, in order 
to command assent, must not be used to explain 
local phenomena, but must be applicable to the 
explanation of the physical features of every con- 
tinental mass. Without deviating too far from the 
scope of this w^ork, and avoiding unneccessary 
details, w^e propose to make such an application. 

SOUTH AMERICA. 

In instituting a comparison between the two por- 
tions of the Western Hemisphere, we have not, so 
far as relates to South America, a series of meteo- 



112 THE ORIGIN OF PRAIRIES. 

rological observations to guide us; but we know 
the topographical features of the country, and the 
prevailing direction of the winds, as well as the 
boundaries of the forests, llanos or pampas, and 
the deserts of the interior. 

The Andes border the western coast of the 
Continent, from one extremity to the other, rising 
up rugged and rock-ribbed into the region of per- 
petual snow, and leaving on the Pacific side a nar- 
row and abrupt slope to the ocean, while on the 
Atlantic side the country stretches out in gently- 
undulating plains. The mountains are every where 
sufficiently high to arrest the floating clouds and 
deprive them of their moisture; and hence, on 
opposite sides, we find not only the most marked 
diversity of climate, but of vegetable forms. * 

* The Andes assume their most colossal proportions in the vicinity 
of Lake Titicaca (Peru). It is from this point, according to Squier, 
(" Harper's Magazine," April, iS68.) that the traveler has a full view 
of the massive bulk of Illampu, the crown of the Continent, the high- 
est mountain of America, rivaling if not equaling in height the mon- 
archs of Himalaya. " Observers vary in their estimates and calcula- 
tions of its altitude, from 25,000 to 27,000 feet; my own estimates 
place it at not far from 26.000. Extending southward from this, is an 
uninterrupted chain of Nevados, or Snowy Mountains, no where less 
than 20,000 feet in height, which terminates in the great mountain of 
Illamini, 24.500 feet in altitude." 

"No where in the world, perhaps," he continues, "can a panorama 
so diversified and grand be obtained from a single point of view. The 
whole great table-land of Peru and Bolivia, at its widest part, with its 
own system of waters, its own rivers and lakes, its own plains and 
mountains, all framed in by the ranges of Cordillera and the Andes, 
is presented like a map before the adventurous visitor who climbs the 
apacJtcta of Tiahuanaco. Grand, severe, almost sullen, is the aspect 



SOUTH AMERICA. II3 

Like North America, this continent has its region 
of luxuriant forests, grassy plains, and inhospitable 

deserts. 

Primeval Forests of Brazil. — Brazil is fed by 
perpetual currents of moisture, which are ex- 
haled from the Atlantic and .distributed over half 
a continent. A vast forest region fills the 
connected basins of the Orinoco and Amazon, 
extending to the base of the Andes, — a primeval 
forest, as graphically described by Humboldt, so 
impenetrable that it is impossible to clear w^ith an 
axe a passage between trees eight and twelve feet 
in diameter for more than a few paces, and where 
the chief obstacle presented is the undergrowth of 
plants, tilling up every interval in a zone where all 
vegetation has a tendency to assume a ligneous 
form, — a region traversed in all directions by sys- 
tems of rivers, whose tributaries even sometimes 
exceed the Wolga or the Danube, and whose 
courses are the only highways into the interior. 
This connected forest has an extent of surface, and 
a grandeur of arborescent forms, unequaled on any 
other portion of the earth. 



which nature presents here. We stand in the centre of a scenery and 
a terrestrial system which seems to be, in spirit as well as in fact, lifted 
above the rest of the world. * * * Clouds surge up from the dank 
plains and forests of Brazil, only to be precipitated and dissolved by 
the snowy barriers which they can not pass." 

8 



114 SOUTH AMERICA. 

The Llanos of Caraccas. — Bounding this forest- 
belt on the north, the Llanos stretch from the lofty 
gigantic crests which gird the Caribbean Sea south- 
ward to near the channel of the Amazon, and from 
the base of the Andes east to the mountains of La 
Parame, constituting a plain of irregular dimensions, 
1 80 by 200 leagues in extent. It is thus walled in, 
with a single outlet through the valley of the Ori- 
noco. The valleys of Caraccas are fertile beyond 
compare, and grow all of the tropical fruits so 
highly prized by man; presenting an abrupt con- 
trast to these vast treeless plains. "Fresh from the 
richest luxuriance of organic life," says Humboldt, 
"the traveler treads at once the desolate margin of 
a treeless desert. Neither hill nor cliff rises to 
break the uniformity of the plain. ^ ^ ^ The 
steppe lies stretched before us, dead and rigid, like 
the stony crust of a desolated planet." 

During the rainy season, these plains are clothed 
with a rich carpet of verdure; but in the dry season, 
every form of vegetable organism is withered and 
burned, as if by an all-consuming fire, and the very 
air is filled with particles of carbonized dust. 

The contrast of seasons is graphically described 
by Humboldt: 

" When, under the rays of a never-clouded sun, the carbon- 
ized turfy covering falls into dust, the indurated soil cracks 
asunder as if from the shock of an earthquake. * * The 



SOURCE OF MOISTURE. II5 

lowering sky sheds a dim, almost straw-colored light on the 
desolate plain. The horizon draws suddenly nearer ; the 
steppe seems to contract, and with it the heart of the wanderer. 
The hot dusty particles which fill the air, increase its sulibcat- 
ing heat, and the east-wind, blowing over the long-heated soil, 
brings with it no refreshment, but rather a still more burning 
glow. The pools which the yellow-fading branches of the fan- 
palm had protected from evaporation, now gradually disappear. 
As in the icy north the animals become torpid with cold, so 
here, under the influence of the parching drought, the croco- 
dile and the boa become motionless and fall asleep, deeply- 
buried in the dry mud. Every where the deatli-threatening 
drought prevails ; and yet, by the play of the refracted rays of 
light, producing the plienomenon of mirage, the thirsty trav- 
eler is every where pursued by the illusive image of a cool, 
rippling, watery mirror. * * * ^^ length, after the long 
drought, the welcome season of rain arrives ; and then how 
suddenly is the scene changed ! The deep blue of the hitherto 
perpetually cloudless sky becomes lighter ; at night, the dark 
space in the constellation of the Southern Cross is hardly dis- 
tinguishable ; the soft phosphorescent light of tlie Magellanic 
clouds fades away ; even the stars in Aquila and Ophiucus, in 
the zenith, shine with a trembling and less planetary light. A 
single cloud appears in the south, like a distant mountain rising 
perpendicularly from the horizon. Gradually the increasing 
vapors spread like mist over the sky, and now the distant thun- 
der ushers in the life-restoring rain. Hardly has the earth 
received the refreshing moisture, before the previously barren 
steppe begins to exhale sweet odors, and to clothe itself with a 
variety of grasses. * * * Sometimes (so the Aborigines 
relate) on the margin of the swamps, the moistened clay is 
said to blister and rise slowly in a kind of mound ; then, with 
a violent noise, like the outbrealc of a small mud volcano, the 
heaped-up earth is cast higli in the air. The beholder acquainted 
with the meaning of this spectacle, flies ; for he knows there 
will issue forth a gigantic water-snake or scaly crocodile, 
awakened from a torpid state by the first fall of rain. * * * 
A portion of the steppe now presents the aspect of an inland 



Il6 THE ORIGIN OF PRAIRIES. 

sea ; and now nature consti-ains the same animals who in the 
first half of the year panted with thirst on the dry and dusty 
soil, to adopt the amphibious life. * * Such a sight reminds 
the thoughtful observer involuntarily of the capability of con- 
forming to the most varied circumstances, with which the all- 
providing Author of Nature has endowed certain animals and 
plants." * 

Such a region could never tempt the natives to 
leave the beautiful cacao groves of Caraccas, but 
since it has been open to European occupancy, vast 
herds of cattle here find pasturage. 

The Pampas of La Plata. — In the northern 
portion of the Argentine Republic, there is an im- 
mense tract of country known as the Gran Chaco, 
occup3'ing a triangle between the rivers Paraguay 
and Solado, and reaching north to Bolivia, — an 
area of more than 100,000 miles square. It is of 
variable fertility. The northern part is forest- 
clothed, but the southern part is arid, sandy, and 
uninhabitable. West of the Vermejo, is the great 
desert of Salinas, covered foi the most part with 
mineral efflorescences which sparkle like dew- 
drops in the sun. 

The Pampas, from the Indian name valley, are 
immense plains which commence as high as lati- 
tude 33°, and extend over the whole country, grad- 
uating into the stern deserts of Patagonia, and their 

* Humboldt, "Aspects of Nature." Title, " Steppes and Deserts." 



THE PAMPAS OF LA PLATA. II7 

area is not less than 300,000 square miles. In the 
main, they are fertile, being clotted with numerous 
lakes of a brackish character; but the wells atford 
palatable water. 

Proceeding inland from Buenos Ayres, the char- 
acter of the country undergoes marked changes. 
For the first two hundred miles, the surface is cov- 
ered with clover and thistles, which grow in alter- 
nate crops, conforming to the seasons. The suc- 
ceeding belt, four hundred and fifty miles broad, is 
clothed with grass alternately brown and green, as 
spring or autumn prevails; and to this succeeds the 
wooded region, consisting of scrubby trees and 
shrubs, which stretches to the base of the Cordil- 
leras. The trees, mostly evergreens, do not form 
tangled thickets, but are grouped in a park-like 
arrangement. " The whole country," according to 
Head, " is in such beautiful order that, if citizens 
and millions of inhabitants could suddenly be 
planted at proper intervals and situations, the peo- 
ple would have nothing to do but drive their cattle 
to graze, and, without any previous preparation, to 
plough whatever quantity of ground their wants 
may require." * 

In the region of grass and wood, the climate is 
exceedingly dry: there is no dew at night; in the 
hottest weather, the most violent exertions of man 

* Sir Francis Head's " Journej over the Pampas." 



Il8 ORIGIN OF THE PRAIRIES. 

produce very little perspiration; and the animals 
which die, lie upon the plain dried up in their 
skins. 

Patagonia. — The southern extremity of the 
Continent, on the western coast, is girt with a range 
of mountains, reaching high into the air; while the 
eastern coast, so far as known, is arranged in stair- 
like terraces, which sustain a coarse, wiry grass, 
with belts of stunted trees along the water-courses. 
The plain, or interior region, is one of unmitigated 
sterility; but that which borders the Pacific, is sur- 
feited with rain. Twelve feet have been known to 
fall within forty days; and navigators report that, 
off the coast, pools of fresh water have been found 
floating above the briny waters of the ocean, so 
pure that it may be scooped up for the use of the 
vessel's crew. 

Peru. — Although this region occupies the same 
relation to the Pacific Coast as the western border 
of Patagonia, yet it presents an abrupt contrast in 
climate. Rains are unknown, and with the excep- 
tion of occasional fogs, called garua., the inhabitants 
enjoy a perpetual serenity of sky. So constant is 
this condition of the atmosphere, that those ordinary 
forms of civility which, in the northern temperate 
zone, usually succeed an introduction, and are the 



DESERT OF ATACAMA. I I9 

prelude to more intimate relations, such as "A fine 
day!" or "A prospect of a shower!" are here obso- 
lete terms. Ridiculous as this custom, abstractly 
considered, may seem, it after all paves the way to 
more confidential relations; it is the bridge which 
spans an otherwise almost impassable gulf. In the 
mountainous regions, rains occasionally fall, when 
the sands at once attest the quickening power of 
nature, and become clothed with peculiar forms of 
vegetation. 

Between the parallels 21° 30' and 25° 30' S., lies 
the desert of Atacama. Towards the north, there 
are some fertile spots, but to the south it is not only 
uninhabited, but uninhabitable. The surface is 
covered with dark movable sands; the air is dry; 
no refreshing dews descend at night; no clouds 
discharge refreshing showers by day; but, from the 
abundant presence of salt, the surface glistens in 
the clear sunlight, as though studded with a floor 
of diamonds. 

Such are some of the physical features of South 
America, — luxuriant forms of vegetable life, far- 
stretching plains robed in grasses, deserts of drifting 
sands, or covered with saline incrustations, and 
mountains shooting far up into the regions of per- 
petual snow. 

We find a solution of these phenomena in the 
variable supply of moisture. The effect of the 



I20 THE ORIGIN OF PRAIRIES. 

Andes in condensing the vapors, come from what 
quarter they may, has been adverted to. Hence, 
w^hile there is a v^et and dry side throughout their 
entire range, the conditions are not constant, as seen 
in the contrast between Patagonia and Peru, for the 
reason that the winds which supply the moisture 
are not constant. 

WIND AND RAIN CHARTS, 

If we examine the Map (Plate I.), we shall find 
that the climatic centre of the earth — the Zone of 
Variable Winds and Calms, and at the same time 
the Zone of Constant Precipitation — lies about 6° 
north of the Equator. This belt is not stationary, but 
advances and recedes with the sun, over a space of 
about a thousand miles, carrying with it its attend- 
ant rains, winds, and calms, and giving origin in the 
tropics to a well-defined wet and dry season. 

North of this belt, about 28° in width, is the Zone 
of the Northeast-Trades, and south of it that of the 
Southeast-Trades. On the north next succeeding, 
we have the Calm Belt of Cancer, and on the south 
the Calm Belt of Capricorn. North of Cancer is 
the Region of Southwest Winds, and south of Cap- 
ricorn the Region of Northwest Winds. In the calm 
belts, the under-currents proceeding from the Poles 
meet the downward returnins" currents from the 



SOURCES OF MOISTURE. 121 

Equator, in which the latter prevail; so that, in the 
Northern Hemisphere, we have two sets of aerial 
currents blowing in opposite directions, southwest 
and northeast; and in the Southern Hemisphere, 
northwest and southeast, with a belt of Variable 
Winds at or near the Equator. 

Applying this system of winds and rains to the 
physical features of South America, as modifying 
the direction of the currents and the distribution 
of moisture, we find that the Llanos are situated in 
the Belt of Variable Winds, and are, therefore, 
subject to a wet and dry season. Walled in as 
they are on nearly every side by lofty mountains, 
which exclude the local moisture of the ocean, 
with heated columns of air rising from the glowing 
surface, to dissipate each forming cloud, — giving 
origin to droughts so protracted as to burn up every 
form of vegetation and cause the particles to fill the 
air with carbonized dust, — succeeded by inunda- 
tions so copious as to convert vast tracts into inland 
seas; — these would be conditions highly unfavora- 
ble to the growth of trees, while they would not be 
unfavorable to the growth of grasses. It is, then, 
to the unequal distribution of moisture that we are 
to attribute the origin of the Llanos. 

Brazil, on the other hand, lies between the Equa- 
torial Belt and the Belt of Capricorn; while Peru 
occupies the same position to the west, but sepa- 



122 THE ORIGIN OF PRAIRIES. 

rated b}^ the culminating peaks of the Andes, not 
less than 24,000 feet high. In the one region, as 
we have seen, there is an unequaled forest-growth, 
and in the other nothing can be grown except by 
artificial irrigation. 

Whence proceeds this diversity? The Southeast 
Trades, laden with moisture perpetually distilled, 
strike the Atlantic Coast, and, as they sweep over 
the Continent, make a perpetual deposit; until, 
reaching the snow-capped Andes, they are wrung 
of their remaining moisture, and pass over to the 
Pacific as dry winds. Hence, then, as these winds 
blow constantly, the constant serenity of the Peru- 
vian skies; and hence, too, the nearly unvarying 
flood which the Amazon, without a shoal or a rapid 
between its mouth and the base of the Andes, pours 
into the ocean. 

Below the tropic of Capricorn, the prevailing 
winds become northwest, which have a long sea- 
ward sweep before striking the shore. The high 
and abrupt coast, aided by the low temperature, at 
once arrests and deprives them of moisture; and 
hence the western coast of Patagonia is among the 
most profusely-watered portions of the earth's sur- 
face, while the opposite slope is in an almost rain- 
less reo^ion. 

La Plata occupies an intermediate position 
between the luxuriant forest-o:rowth of Brazil and 



EUROPE. 123 

the barren steppes of Patagonia; and as nature, like 
a skillful painter, always blends and harmonizes 
her lines, we should not look for abrupt transitions. 
The northern portion is in the Movable Belt of Cap- 
ricorn, where the conflict takes place between the 
under-currents of the Southern Pole and the upper 
descending currents from the Equator, and is the 
best-watered; while the southern portion is in the 
Belt of Northwest Currents, which are dry off-shore 
breezes, and hence there is a deficiency of moisture. 
There is a local monsoon, too, along the coast, 
whose effects in distributing moisture do not extend 
far inland. 

Combining, therefore, in one view, the varying 
distribution of moisture, as influenced by the pre- 
vailing winds, we find the dense forest, where it is 
constant and abundant, as in Brazil; the pampas 
and llanos, where it is deficient or unequally dis- 
tributed, as in Venezuela and La Plata; and the 
inhospitable desert, where it is nearly withheld, as 
in Patagonia and Peru. 

EUROPE. 

The great Southwestern aerial Current, described 
in the previous Chapter, as it leaves the coast of 
the United States, is dry; but in its passage across 
the Atlantic, it imbibes the warmth and moisture 



124 THE ORIGIN OF PRAIRIES. 

of the Gulf Stream, which it exhales on the west- 
ern coast of Europe. It is to the warmth and 
moisture thus communicated, that Ireland owes 
her rich pasturage, verdant in all vicissitudes of 
the seasons; that England has a precarious wheat- 
harvest, and that the Atlantic Coast of United States 
exhibits a depression equal to ii° of temperature. 
As these winds penetrate interiorly, they gradually 
part with their moisture, and the climate assumes a 
more continental character. To the forest-growth, 
succeed grassy steppes; then, plains covered with 
saline efflorescences; and finally, as in the United 
States and in South America, inhospitable deserts. 

Starting eastward from the German Ocean, 
between the parallels 52° and 53°, the traveler 
may advance to the river Lena, without having 
passed a mountain-range higher than 2,000 feet; 
thus traversing 130° of longitude, or more than 
one-third part of the curvature of the earth. 

Western Russia, in the Temperate Zone, is cov- 
ered almost entirely with a dense forest, — so dense 
that it has been said a squirrel might travel on the 
tree-tops from St. Petersburg to Moscow, without 
touchins: the grround. Leaving^ this forest-reg'ion 
and peoetrating still further into the interior, vast 
steppes succeed, which graduate into inhospitable 
wastes. 



PLAINS OF THE BLACK SEA. 1 25 

Plains of the Black Sea. — These plains have 
been celebrated from the earliest historical period, 
for their productiveness in human food; and the 
nations of the Mediterranean, before the Christian 
Era, as they now do, drew large supplies from this 
source. 

Herodotus, the Father of History, has described 
this region as possessing the same features which 
we now behold. " Across the Borysthenes (the 
Don), the first country after 3^ou leave the coast is 
Hylea (Woodland). Above this, dwell the Scythian 
Husbandmen. * ^ Crossing the Panticapes and 
proceeding eastward of the Husbandmen, we come 
upon the wandering Scythians, who neither plough 
nor sow. Their country, and the whole of this 
region except Hylea, is quite bare of trees." * 

General Turchin, of Chicago, whose early life 
was passed in this region, has furnished me with 
an elaborate paper upon its soil and climate, an 
abstract of which I shall embody here. Between 
these plains and the prairies of the Mississippi Val- 
ley, there is a marked similarity in soil and climate, 
confirmed by the observations of one familiar with 
both regions. 

Starting at Lublin, Poland, about latitude 51°, 
the northern boundary of the wheat-region, and, at 
the same time, the southern boundary of the forest, 

* Herodotus, Book IV. 



126 ORIGIN OF THE PRAIRIES. 

the dividing line runs north of east to Penza, com- 
prehending the whole eastern portion of Russia, 
and thence is produced along the southern bound- 
ary of Siberia. The whole area of the wheat- 
growing region is not less than 500,000 square 
miles; from which, deducting the area of timber, 
and the salt and sandy steppes, we have 375,000 
square miles. These steppes may be thus classi- 
fied: 

1 . Those of a rolling character^ ivell supplied with Tim- 
ber^ Springs^ and Streams. 

2. Those partly-rolling., with scarcely any Timber., but 
■possessing a sufficient quantity of Streams. 

3. The level Steppes., intermixed with those of a Salt a?id 
Sandy character., with no Timber and fezv Streams. 

I. The first class of steppes comprehends the 
region lying north of the Caucasus Range. These 
steppes, particularly those of the Ukraine, are 
extremely beautiful, and, where not cultivated, are 
clothed with grasses and wild flowers; while the 
streams, which are numerous, are bordered with 
trees. The soil is very rich — humus and clay, — 
well supplied with diflerent salts, such as potash, 
magnesia, lime, nitre, etc., which, pulverized and 
intermixed, give it a brownish-yellow color; but, 
in the eastern portion of the region, it is dark- 
brown. Almost all of the nitre of Russia is manu- 
factured in the Ukraine. The Coal-Measures in 



PLAINS OF THE BLACK SEA. 1 27 

many cases constitute the underlying rock, and 
yield an excellent quality of coal. These are best 
developed along the north line of the Caucasus. 
The soil of the Caucasus is extremely rich, and the 
timber attains an uncommon size, particularly the 
walnut and tchinor^ the latter strongly resembling 
the cotton-wood of the Mississippi Valley. 

2. The second-class steppes include the southern 
part of Bessarabia, the province of Kherson, and 
the peninsula of Crimea. The soil is a very rich 
black mould, produces every variety of grain, and 
very much reseinbles the black prairie-soil of Illi- 
nois. Its composition does not materially differ 
from that of the first class, except that it contains 
more humus. These steppes differ from the prai- 
ries in being dryer, in having sloughs only near the 
streams, in furnishing grass of a finer texture, and 
presenting a surface almost bare of trees. The 
traveler may journey for hundreds of miles without 
meetins: with a belt or trrove, or seeino- auirht but 
the green waves of the grassy steppes spread around 
him like a vast sea, and melting away imperceptibly 
into the distant horizon. 

3. The third class of steppes comprises the coun- 
try extending along the coast of the Black Sea, the 
Sea of Azov, the interior of the Crimea, the eastern 
portion of the country between the Black and Cas- 
pian Seas, and the vast region on the left bank of 



128 THE ORIGIiSr OF PRAIRIES. 

the Wolga. These steppes are level, treeless, with 
few streams, but contain numerous salt and sandy 
patches. In the province of Sartov, there is a salt 
lake from which are annually extracted vast quanti- 
ties of this material. 

Thus far have I extracted from General Turchin's 
MS. In examining the Rain-Charts of this region, 
we find that the same law prevails as in the Missis- 
sippi Valley; that is, instead of the precipitation 
being distributed nearly equally over the four sea- 
sons, the spring and summer rains are greatly in 
excess. 

In explanation of the phenomena of this region, 
it may be remarked that the Caucasus Range occu- 
pies the country between the Black and Caspian 
Seas (a distance of 700 miles), the highest peaks 
penetrating the snow line, and one peak (Elbrouz, 
17,785 feet,) rising 2,000 feet higher than Mount 
Blanc (15,744 feet). A portion of the moisture 
borne by the Southwest Trades against these sum- 
mits, is condensed; and here a precipitation takes 
place, amounting to 60 inches, which is far in 
excess of what falls on the steppes. On the first 
and second-class steppes, the rain-fall is from 35 to 
20 inches; on the third class, 15 inches; in the 
salt-region of the Caspian, 10 inches.* 

* Compare these figures with those of the United States : Greatest 
precipitation along the Gulf Coast (densely wooded), 63 inches; prai- 
ries of Iowa and Wisconsin, 35 inches ; plains at base of the Rocky 
Mountains, 15 inches; and in the Great Basin, 10 inches. 



HIMALAYA RANGE. 1 29 

PLATEAU OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

The Caspian region is but an outlier of the Great 
Asiatic Plateau, the vastest, if not the most elevated, 
according to Humboldt, on the surface of the globe. 
Instead of drifting sands, the Asiatic steppes, like 
the Great Basin, are crossed by ranges of hills 
clothed with coniferous woods. There are, too, 
grassy plains; other parts are covered with succu- 
lent evergreen plants; and " other parts," quoting 
from Humboldt, " glisten from a distance with 
flakes of exuded salt, which cover the clayey soil, 
not unlike in appearance to fresh-fallen snow." Of 
this character is the great desert of Gobi, walled 
in on the north by the Altai Range, and on the 
south by the Kuen-lun. Nor are these steppes 
uninhabitable. Tartars and Mongolians, swarming 
forth from their desert retreats, have at different 
times exercised the most direct influence on the 
destinies of mankind. 

Thus situated in the interior of a Continent, in 
the lee of the monsoons which sweep the Indian 
Ocean, and sheltered by the loftiest mountains of 
the world, it is to be inferred, in the absence even 
of precise meteorological statistics, that this Great 
Plateau would present varying aspects of sterility. 
The southern slope of the Flimalaya is intersected 
by deep-entering bays, like the Arabian Sea and 
9 



130 THE ORIGIN OF PRAIRIES. 

the Bay of Bengal, which give it a peninsular char- 
acter. The southwest monsoons blow from April 
to October, and the northeast monsoons the other 
half of the year, and both expend their moisture 
upon the southern slope of the great mountain bar- 
rier. The rain-fall here reaches 200 inches a year; 
and thus it is we have another illustration of the 
physical fact of a rainless district on one side of a 
great mountain chain, and a district on the other 
most abundantly watered. 

Arabian Desert. — The desert of Arabia maybe 
considered as an extension of that system of arid 
wastes which finds its full development in the 
Sahara of Africa. 

An historian versed in philosophy, while yet the 
laws of climatology were not understood, has thus 
graphically described that inhospitable region: 

"It is a boundless waste of sand, intersected by sharp and 
naked mountains ; and the face of the desert, without shade or 
shelter, is scorched by the direct and intense rays of the tropi- 
cal sun. Instead of refreshing breezes, the winds, particularly 
from the southwest, diffuse a noxious and even deadly vapor ; 
the hillocks of sand which they alternately diffuse and scatter, 
are compared to the billows of the ocean, and whole caravans, 
whole armies, have been lost and buried in the whirlwind. 
The common benefits of water are an object of desire and con- 
test ; and such is the scarcity of wood, that some art is requisite 
to preserve and propagate the element of fire. 

" Arabia is destitute of navigable I'ivers, which fertilize the 
soil, and convey its products to adjacent regions. The torrents 



AFRICA. 131 

that fall from the hills are imbibed by the thirsty earth ; the 
rare and hardy plants, the tamarind or the acacia, that strike 
their roots into the clefts of the rocks, are nourished by the 
dews of the night ; a scanty supply of rain is collected in cis- 
terns and aqueducts ; the wells and springs are the secret 
treasures of the desert ; and the pilgrim of Mecca, after many 
a dry and sultry march, is disgusted with the taste of the waters 
which have rolled over a bed of sulphur or salt. Such is the 
general and genuine picture of the climate of Arabia. The 
experience of evil enhances the value of any local or partial 
enjo^/ments. A shady grove, a green pasture, a stream of 
fresh water, are sufficient to attach a colony of sedentary Arabs 
to the fortunate spot which can afford food and refreshment to 
themselves or their cattle, and which encourage their industry 
in the cultivation of the palm-tree or the vine. 

" The high lands that border the Indian Ocean are distin- 
guished by their superior plenty of wood and water ; the air is 
more temperate, the fruits are more delicious, the animals and 
the hmnan race more numerous; the fertility of the soil invites 
and rewards the toil of the husbandman ; and the peculiar gifts 
of frankincense and coftee have attracted, in different ages, tlie 
merchants of the world. If it be compared with the rest of 
the peninsula, this sequestered region may truly deserve the 
appellation of Happy ; and the splendid coloring of fancy and 
fiction has been suggested by contrast, and countenanced by 
distance. It was for this earthly paradise, that nature had 
reserved her choicest favors and her most curious workman- 
ship." * - 



AFRICA. 

A grander and a more desolate aspect character- 
izes the plains of Africa. " They are," says Hum- 
boldt, " parts of a sea of sand which, stretching 

* Gibbon, " Decline and Fall," Ch. L. 



132 THE ORIGIN OF PRAIRIES. 

eastward, separate fruitful regions from each other, 
or encloses them like islands. Neither dews, nor 
rains, bathe these desolate plains, or develop on 
their glowing surface the germs of vegetable life; 
for heated columns of air, every where ascending, 
dissolve the vapors, and disperse each swiftly- 
vanishing cloud." * 

And yet these plains do not present one wide 
waste of desolation. They have their oases, which 
are habitable by man; — 

" The tufted isles 
That verdant rise amid the Libyan wild." 

They have their fountains, shaded by the palm, 
where the weary traveler may slake his thirst. 

Approaching the Great Sahara from the Mediter- 
ranean or the Red Sea, we view it where it puts on 
its sternest features. The extreme northwestern 
portion of the Continent, lying in the Zone of 
Southwest Winds, has a strip of cultivable land; 
while the Nile, by its annual inundations, maintains 
a green thread of vegetation through a region of 
desolate sands. 

There is no region of the earth where the condi- 
tions of climate are more constant than those which 
embrace the sources of the Nile. When the Dog- 
Star rises, the inhabitants of the Lower Valley look 

* "Aspects of Nature," Title, " Steppes and Deserts." 



INUNDATION OF THE NILE. 1 33 

for a swelling of the river. If the Nilometer which 
measures the height of the flood, indicates but eight 
cubits, the crops will be scanty; but if it reaches 
fourteen ^cubits, they will be abundant. 

"Where the Nile," says Draper, "breaks through the moun- 
tain gate at Essouan, it is observed that its waters begin to rise 
about the end of the month of May, and in eight or nine weeks 
the inundation is at its height. The flood in the river is due 
to the great rains which have fallen in the mountainous coun- 
tries among which the Nile takes its rise, and which have been 
precipitated by the trade-winds that blow, except where dis- 
turbed by the monsoons, over the vast expanse of the tropical 
Indian Ocean. Thus dried, the East-Wind pursues its solemn 
course over the solitudes of Central Africa, a cloudless and a 
rainless wind, its track marked by desolation and deserts. At 
first the river becomes red, and then green, because the flood 
of its great Abyssinian branch, the Blue Nile, arrives first ; 
but soon after, the White Nile makes its appearance, and from 
the overflowing banks, not only water, but a rich and fertiliz- 
ing mud, is discharged." * 

Those portions of the Great Desert accessible 
from the Mediterranean and the Nile, are wholly 
within the Belt of Northeast Winds, which, in 
their passage over other lands, have been wrung 
of all their moisture; and hence, as observed by 
Marsh,f the present general drift of the sands 
appears to be to the southwest and west. 

The coast of Guinea, the strike side, is in the 
Zone of Periodical Rains, and is most profusely 

* " Intellectual Development of Europe." 
t " Man and Nature." 



134 THE ORIGIN OF PRAIRIES. 

watered. In 1838, during three months, at Sierra 
Leone, the prodigious quantity of 314 inches of rain 
fell; and in two days, nearly 20 inches, an amount 
equal to two-thirds of the annual precipitation in the 
British Isles. The rainy season lasts from May to 
November, and is ushered in and carried off by 
tornadoes. To the inhabitants, it is a period of 
gloom and apprehension. The hills are wrapped 
in impenetrable fogs, and the rains fall in such tor- 
rents that all out-door exercises are suspended. It 
is the period, too, of fevers and malarious diseases. 

Vast and impenetrable forests stretch into the 
interior, which afford teak and cam- wood. A range 
of mountains, whether mythical or real I know not, 
is laid down by most geographers as reaching 
from the coast eastward into the interior, which 
should serve as a wall to arrest the vapor-bearing 
currents and prevent their flow into the region of 
the Great Desert. 

In the absence of positive information, then, we 
would presuppose that a section extended from the 
Coast of Guinea to the Mediterranean Sea would 
exhibit somewhat the following features: A lux- 
uriant growth of arborescent vegetation on the 
Atlantic Coast, developed under tropical heats and 
oceanic moisture; alternations of grove and grass; 
and last, wild wastes of drifting sands. A theory 
which supposes that these arid wastes originated in 



AUSTRALIA. 1 35 

and are maintained by the circulation of an atmos- 
phere previously robbed of all moisture, is just as 
plausible and tenable as one which presupposes 
that these sands are but a portion of an elevated 
ocean-bed, from w^hose glowing surface arise heated 
currents of air, which dissolve every vapor-bearing 
cloud. It is simply a question whether we have 
not confounded cause with effect. 

The strip of cultivable land bordering the Medi- 
terranean, including Morocco and Algeria, is in 
the Region of the Southwest Currents, and affords 
many fruitful valleys. It is shut off from the desert 
by the stupendous chain of the High Atlas, whose 
range is east and west. In the basin of the Mediter- 
ranean, evaporation is far in excess of precipitation, 
and hence there is a constantly-flowing current 
from the Atlantic, through the Straits of Gibraltar, 
to supply the vacuum thus created. 

AUSTRALIA. 

Australia has been characterized as " a land of 
anomalies," — where the fishes, in some instances 
at least, approach in structure those of the Old 
Red Sandstone epoch; where the birds, recently 
extinct, were furnished with wings simply to ena- 
ble them to run; where we find mammalia that do 
not suckle their young; where reptiles are warm- 



136 THE ORIGIN OF PRAIRIES. 

blooded; where animals bring forth a few days 
after conception — the foeti being without limbs or 
external organs; and where other animals whose 
fore-legs are nearly useless for locomotion, accom- 
plish this operation by employing their hind-legs 
and tail; and finally, where there is a paradoxical 
animal, with the bill and feet of a duck, the body 
of a mole, and the general structure of a reptile. 
The vegetation is equall}?^ strange, where the 
margin of the leaves, and not the surface, as in 
other lands, is upturned to the sun. 

The physical features of the country are no less 
strange, — a Continent without rivers, and where 
fertility is confined to the summits of considerable 
hills. Surrounded by the ocean, yet its interior is 
an arid waste. While subject in some degree to a 
wet and dry season, there are cycles often or twelve 
years of unmitigated drought, during which no rain 
falls; close upon which, is a year of floods. The 
floods of the coast are simultaneous with drought 
in the interior, and vice versa. 

Australia lies partly within the influence of the 
Southeast Trades, and partly within that of the 
Northwest Currents; while the northern portion is 
swept by the Periodical Monsoons. The highest 
mountains are on the Pacific side, and hence pre- 
vent the passage of the Northwest Currents into 
the interior. According to Dana, the Australian 



RESUME. 137 

Alps, which face the southwest shores, have peaks 
5,000 to 6,500 feet in height, which are continued 
northward in the Blue Mountains, whose general 
elevation is 3,000 to 4,000 feet, with some more 
elevated summits, and beyond these, in ridges 
under other names, — the whole range being 
between 2,000 and 6,000 feet in elevation. The 
elevated grounds to the east perform the same 
office, and thus we have a Continent with high 
borders around a depressed interior. Of all conti- 
nents, Australia is the most arid and inhospitable. 



RESUME. 

If we examine a geological map of the world, 
we shall find that these vast plains and deserts were 
sea-bottoms during the Cretaceous, and in many 
instances, during the Tertiary epoch, and the 
mountains by which they are girt were the ancient 
shore-lines. But this does not justify us in the 
inference that their desert-like character is due to 
this cause, for the sedimentary rocks of every 
age, which, as a general rule, aftbrd a far more 
hospitable soil than those of igneous origin, have 
undergone the same process. There is little doubt 
that, if the most inhospitable portions of Sahara 
bad been exposed to the direct action of the winds 
of the region of monsoons, which give origin to 



138 THE ORIGIN OF PRAIRIES. 

the inundations of the Nile, they would have been 
robed with an appropriate vegetation, whose decay, 
in the course of ages, would have created an 
amount of humus which, incorporating itself with 
the soil, might have made this desolation a garden. 

Embracing the whole subject in a comprehensive 
glance, we believe that it will be found: 

That the phenomenon of varying vegetation, 
throughout every continent and throughout every 
zone, is, primarily, dependent on the varying supply 
of moisture; modified, secondarily, by altitude of 
surface above the sea, diversity of soil, its evapo- 
rative power, and the climatic conditions of tem- 
perature. 

The winds and the rains, heat and cold, light and 
and darkness, are the great powers, whether mani- 
fested in the tempest or in the gently-distilling 
dew; whether in Arctic colds or tropical heats; 
whether in midnight darkness or in the full glare 
of the midday sun; whether in the structure of the 
rugged oak, or in the delicate tissues of the unfold- 
ing flower; — these, we repeat, are the great powers 
which every where act in accordant harmony, to 
produce the infinite diversity of vegetable life; they 
are the agents by which Nature perpetually renews 
the youth, the beauty, and the fertility, of our 
planet. 

And yet, all these apparently complicated phe- 



RESUME. 139 

nomena are but emanations from a single source, 
the Sun, — the "lantern of the World" {lucerna 
mundt), as described by Copernicus; the all-vivi- 
fying, pulsating " heart of the Universe^'' as 
described by an ancient philosopher;* or, as 
described by a modern philosopher, \ the primary 
source of light and radiating heat, and the generator 
of numerous terrestrial, electro-magnetic processes, 
and, indeed, of the greater part of the organic vital 
activity on our planet. 

" By its rays," quoting the greatest of living astronomers, \ 
" are produced all winds, and those disturbances in the electric 
equilibrium of the atmosphere which give rise to terrestrial 
magnetism. By their vivifying action, vegetables ai'e elaborated 
from inorganic matter, and become in their turn the support 
of animals and man, and the sources of those great deposits of 
dynamical efficiency which are laid up for human use in our 
coal-strata. By them, the waters of the sea are made to circulate 
in vapors through the air, and irrigate the land, producing 
springs and rivers. By them are produced all disturbances of 
the chemical equilibrium of the elements of nature, which, by 
a series of compositions and decompositions, give rise to new 
products, and originate a transfer of materials. Even the slow 
degradation of the solid constituents of the surface in whicii 
its chief geological changes consist, and their diffiision among 
the v^^aters of the ocean, are entirely due to the abrasion of the 
wind and rain, and the alternate action of the seasons." 

* "Theon of Smyrna." 

t Humboldt, "Cosmos," V. 

X Sir John Herschel. 



140 THE ORIGIN OF PRAIRIES. 

Thus, then, to solar influence may be traced all 
the great phenomena which affect the surface of the 
earth, — day and night, heat and cold, atmospheric 
and oceanic currents, and the vicissitudes of the 
seasons, and extending even to the oxygen of the 
atmosphere, which to man is "the breath of life." 



EXPLANATION OF THE MAP. 
Plate I. 

1. The map shows the relative areas, on each Continent, of 
Forest, Prairie, and Desert. 

2. The distribution of some of the Great Families of Plants. 

3. The different Zones of the Winds, and the barriers, in 
the form of mountain-chains, which they encounter in their 
sweep over the land. 

The Rain-Chart of the World would be identical with the 
Wind-Chart, with a substitution of names, viz., for "Zone of 
Variable Winds" read "Zone of Periodical Rains," which 
has a range north and south of nearly a thousand miles 
during the year ; for the " Zone of Southwest CuiTents," read 
" Zone of Constant Precipitation." The deeply-shaded por- 
tions occupied by the Palms and Deciduous and Coniferous 
types, are well- watered ; while the slightly-shaded portions, 
occupied by the Cacti and Grasses, are either deficient or une- 
qually supplied. 



CHAPTER V. 

FOREST-CULTURE AND IRRIGATION. 

HOW PLANTS GROW EFFECTS OF FORESTS ON HEALTH ON 

ANIMAL LIFE EFFECTS OF DISROBING A COUNTRY OF FOR- 
ESTS RAPID DESTRUCTION OF FORESTS IN THE UNITED 

STATES FORESTS, THEIR LESSONS THEY MODIFY CLI- 
MATE THEY RETAIN MOISTURE TREE-PLANTING IRRI- 
GATION PRACTISED AT AN EARLY DAY, ON BOTH HEMI- 
SPHERES SUCCESSFULLY INTRODUCED ON THE ROCKY 

MOUNTAIN SLOPES FEASIBILITY OF ITS APPLICATION IN 

CALIFORNIA, THE COLORADO DESERT AND THE WESTERN 
PLAINS. 

Hoiv Plants Grow. — Plants extract inorganic 
substances from the soil, which are essential to 
their perfection; but the ligneous portions, together 
with the sugar, starch, and acids, are derived, for 
the most part, from the air. The cerealia, or edible 
grains, require both potash and phosphate of mag- 
nesia; they also require silica, to give hardness to 
the stem, and to the seed-envelope. This substance 
enters largely into the structure of those grasses 
known as canes, bamboos, and scouring rushes. 
The oak extracts iron; and those vegetables com- 
prehended in the term CrucifercE^ such as cabbages, 



142 FOREST-CULTURE. 

turnips, mustard, etc., contain sulphur. The rains 
are the solvent power by which the salts are 
brought within the reach of their rootlets, by which 
they are taken up, assorted, and assimilated, and 
such parts as are useless rejected, as the human 
system casts oft' the exuvia; after the nutriment has 
been extracted. Hydrogen, resulting from the 
decomposition of water, is also absorbed, and 
forms an element in the composition of wood, as 
well as of the fruits, flowers, and seeds of plants. 
Ammonia, the result of the decay of animal matter, 
is volatilized, and passes into the atmosphere; but, 
returned to the earth in descending showers, it is 
absorbed by the soil, and enters into the pores of 
the plant, where it is separated into its constituent 
parts, hydrogen and nitrogen. The latter enters into 
the albumen of wood and the gluten of the cerealia, 
which is the nutritive part. It also enters into the 
composition of the esculent roots, such as potatoes 
and beets; and of the climbing plants, such as peas 
and beans. 

From the air, plants derive carbonic acid, a sub- 
stance which, where it exists in excess, is destructive 
to animal life. This is not a simple element, but a 
compound of oxygen and carbon, and is diffused 
throughout the air in about the proportions of ts-wh 
parts. This supply is maintained by every exhala- 
tion of air-breathing animals, by the steam poured 



HOW PLANTS GROW. 1 43 

out from every active volcano, and by every fire 
artificially kindled. It is also given off in the decay 
of animal and vegetable life, where oxygen, though 
by a less rapid combustion, performs the same office 
as fire. The leaves of plants, on the other hand, 
constantly absorb carbonic acid by day, decompose 
it, restoring the oxygen to the atmosphere, and con- 
verting the carbon into ligneous fibre. Solar influ- 
ence seems to be essential to effect this result, for 
at night, and in gloomy weather, almost all of the 
carbonic acid is returned to the air unchansred. 

Thus, it ma}' be said that the trees and grasses 
which clothe the surface of the earth, as well as the 
immense accumulations of coal stored beneath the 
surface, are but the condensation, by solar rays, of 
those gases destructive to animal life, into forms 
which are essential to its support and comfort. 
The black mould in soils known as humus, is the 
result of the decay of vegetable matter, such as the 
leaves of the forests, the grasses of the meadows, 
and the mosses of the peat-swamps. When brought 
in contact with the oxygen of the atmosphere, an 
equal volume of carbonic acid is evolved. The 
effect of ploughing or stirring up the soil, is to 
bring fresh portions of humus in contact with the 
air, and thus create a fresh supply of carbonic acid. 
In applying animal manure to soils, we seek mainly 
to furnish this substance to the growing plant. 



144 FOREST-CULTURE. 

Although soils of pure lime and sand are barren, 
yet, if they contain two per cent, of vegetable mat- 
ter, the fir and pine tribes will flourish, but oaks 
and other deciduous trees require ten times as 
much. 

Such is the order which prevails throughout the 
realms of Nature. Inorganic substances act and 
react in accordant harmony, to give support to that 
infinite diversity of organic life, both animal and 
veofctable, which is found on the surface of our 
planet; and one series of elements which is destruc- 
tive to animal life, is essential to the growth and 
perfection of vegetable life. Thus intimate is the 
connection, thus mutually dependent. Thus is con- 
stituted a great system of vital forces, by which the 
surface-covering of continents is perpetually main- 
tained, and the wants of its inhabitants provided 
for. 

Effects of Forests on Health. — We have seen 
that a beautiful harmony exists between animal and 
vegetable life, — that while the former consumes 
oxygen and exhales carbonic acid, the latter assimi- 
lates carbonic acid and gives out oxygen; and that 
the noxious effluvium arising from the decomposi- 
tion of animal matter, is converted into ammonia, 
and elaborated into seeds, grains, and fruits, which 
become the essential food of man. Thus, the for- 



FORESTS ON HEALTH. 1 45 

ests perpetually renew the purity of the air, and fit 
it for the respiration of the higher orders of animals. 
Forests absorb to a far greater extent than mere 
flowering plants, the noxious gases which are 
continually thrown into the air from a variety of 
sources; — from the breath of animals, from the 
smoke ofchimne3's in densely-populated cities, and 
from the decay of organic matter. Few people are 
aware of the extent of such emanations. It is ren- 
dered probable that the peculiar principle of the 
atmosphere known as ozone, is a most efficient 
disinfectant; and yet, as stated by Angus Smith, a 
wind blowing over a manufacturing city, like Man- 
chester, at the rate of fifteen miles an hour, after 
having passed less than a mile, is deprived of this 
principle. A single individual exhales, in a day, 
twenty cubic feet of carbonic acid, and therefore 
contaminates 20,000 cubic feet of air. The addition 
of one-tenth of one per cent, may be perceived. 
The rain that falls in a populous city is so acrid 
that a drop will redden litmus paper. Blood shaken 
in the air of towns takes a different shade from that 
shaken in pure air. A method has been devised 
by Dr. Smith for measuring the amount of impurity 
in the air, by means of dilute permanganate of pot- 
ash poured in a bottle, and noticing the degree of 
decolorization of the liquid, when exposed to the 
light. The oxidizable matter in the air over a pig-st}- 
10 



146 FOREST-CULTURE. 

was represented by 109 measures, in the centre of 
Manchester by 58, and over Lake Lucerne (Swit- 
zerland) by 1.4.* Thus, people closely huddled 
together are surrounded by emanations both of 
organic and inorganic matter, which may be inju- 
rious to health, even when the effluvium is not 
apparent to the senses. 

The winds, in their mechanical power to trans- 
port and dissipate these exhalations, and in their 
chemical power to oxidize them; the sunlight, in 
hastening decomposition, and causing new combi- 
nations; the soil, in its power of absorption; and, 
lastly, the vegetation, in its power of consolidating 
the most abundant of these exhalations into innocu- 
ous forms, are the great natural disinfectants. 
Hence, then, tree-planting along crowded thor- 
oughfares and in parks amidst dense cities, can not, 
as a measure of sanitary economy, be too strongly 
recommended. The practice, however, of sur- 
rounding a house with dense shrubbery, is far from 
commendable. It is desirable, so far as can be 
attained, that the sunlight should strike all portions 
of the wall during the day. Where, in-doors, 
there is a lack of sunlight and air, the whole sur- 
face of the rooms, and even of the furniture, 
becomes coated with a film of organic matter, on 

* Dr. R. Angus Smith, in Ure's Die. Sup.; Art. " Sanitary Econ- 
omy." 



FORESTS ON HEALTH. I47 

which fungi germinate, giving off unpleasant odors. 
Books, even, become thus invested. Rubbing w-ith 
water does not destroy the vegetable growth, but 
the application of any of the essential oils, like tur- 
pentine, benzine, etc., is effectual. 

Malaria may also originate in wooded belts, par- 
ticularly in conditions of the weather which cause 
vegetation to putrefy instead of to grow. On the 
other hand, deltas at the mouths of rivers, marsh 
lands, and lands alternately flooded either by salt 
or fresh water, generate malaria, resulting in fevers, 
which do not travel far from the places of their 
origin. It has been found that a forest-belt inter- 
posed to the leeward of such malarious marshes 
afforded an efficient protection against these dis- 
eases, — the canopy of foliage acting both mechani- 
cally and chemically, in the one case to intercept 
the current of miasmatic vapors, and in the other 
to decompose and recombine them into harmless 
elements. And yet, as to the relative salubrity of 
the forest and prairie, as evidenced in the settlement 
of the Western States, the preponderance is greatly 
in favor of the latter. 

Sunlight is essential both to animal and vegetable 
life. It undoubtedly exercises a chemical action 
upon the organic tissues of both; and we know 
that, in the case of plants, they become bleached and 
sickly where it is feebly exerted; and that man, dur- 



148 FOREST-CULTURE. 

ingf the Ions: and cheerless nig^ht of an Arctic winter, 
is peculiarly liable to scorbutic diseases. Darkness 
is his worst enemy. We know, too, the vivifying 
action which the sun brings, after his long exclusion 
from the heavens. Kane, with his little party, win- 
tering at Renssellacr Harbor, describes the depress- 
ing etfects of the " long, intense darkness," extend- 
ing not only to man, but even to the dogs, some of 
whom died of epilepsy, resulting from " long-lost 
daylight." We read with what joyful feelings he 
greeted "the first distinct orange tint" indicative 
of the returning sun, observed on the southern hori- 
zon, at noon, January 21; and he records how dif- 
ferent it was "from the cold light of the planets." * 
Forests exclude the sunlight and obstruct the 
circulation of the air, and, therefore, generate and 
retain dampness, — conditions which are prejudicial 
to health, and which do not exist on the prairies. 
The first stirring-up of the soil, whether of the forest 
or the prairie, generates malaria, probably from 
the liberation of carbonic acid; but it is far more 
malignant in the former region than in the latter. 
The pioneers who planted themselves in Western 
New York, Ohio, and Michigan, suffered far more 
from intermittent fever than those who first subdued 
the soil in Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin. The 
history of those who colonized the Holland Land- 

* "Arctic Explorations," Vol. I., p. 155. 



FORESTS ON ANIMAL LIFE. I49 

Purchase, in Western New York, is one of priva- 
tion and suffering from disease. A prominent 
physician of Chicago, whose early career was 
passed in Michigan, informed me that there would 
be hardly a family within the circuit of a day's 
ride, but had some member of it afflicted with 
chills and fever. So prevalent was this disease, 
that at length it came to be understood that it was 
necessary to build the cabin to the windward of the 
farm to be subdued. The partial destruction of the 
forest in the Middle States, by letting in the sun- 
light and permitting a free circulation of air, has 
improved, without doubt, the sanitary condition of 
the country. On the prairies of Illinois and Wis- 
consin, cases of intermittent fever occur, but it is 
of a mild type, and readily yields to appropriate 
treatment; and at this day, it is far less prevalent 
than on Staten Island, or along the shores of New 
Jersey and Long Island, where, under the action 
of the ebbing and flowing of the tide, large muddy 
flats are alternately exposed to the rays of the sun 
and the wash of the ocean. 

The Effects of Forests on Animal Life. — The 
depths of the forest are almost as destitute of ani- 
mal life, as the interior of deserts. Throufrhou" 
the Mississippi Valley, there are abundant monu- 
ments, in the form of high circular mounds, of par- 



150 FOREST-CULTURE. 

allel roads and far-reaching embankments, laid out 
in mathematical forms, of a race who possessed a 
hiofher desTce of civilization, and different manners 
and customs, from those who occupied the country 
when first known to the European. These monu- 
ments are restricted to the valleys. They are 
neither found in the densely-wooded region, nor on 
the open prairie. The banks of lakes and rivers 
were selected by the Indians, as the sites of their 
lodges; for these gave them the most easy and 
expeditious highways of communication. To a 
race unacquainted with the use of iron, the forest 
would present an insurmountable barrier, except so 
far as marking it by trails.''^ Even European settle- 
ments followed the same course. Colonies were 
planted at the mouths of rivers, or in places acces- 
sible to the sea. They extended themselves up the 
valleys, and at last resorted to the highlands. But, 
in the case of the Aborigines, there was a reason 
why their lodges should be restricted to the valleys. 
Here the sunlig-ht could o:ain access. Here crrew 
the spontaneous fruits of the earth, which could be 
appropriated as food. The waters furnished fish, 
and the quadrupeds and birds, such as furnish food 
to man, here found their feeding-grounds. The 

* Perhaps it is necessary to explain what is meant by a " trail." It 
has, however, a specific meaning with every backwoodsman. It is the 
path beaten through the forest, by men moving in Indian-file — or a 
cokimn of men following in the footsteps of a leader. 



FORESTS ON ANIMAL LIFE. 15I 

beasts and birds of prey followed in their wake. 
Every explorer in a North American forest must 
have remarked the absence of game remote from 
lakes and water-courses, and how rarely its solitude 
is broken by the song of birds. * 

Humboldt, in his " Aspects of Nature," has 
devoted a chapter to the nocturnal life of animals 
in the primeval forests of South America. At 
night, all resort to the rivers. " The jaguar pur- 
sues the peccaries and the tapirs, and these, press- 
ing against each other in their flight, break through 
the inwoven tree-like shrubs which impede their 
flight; the apes on the tops of the trees, being 
frightened by the crash, join their cries to those of 
the larger animals; this arouses the tribes of birds, 
who build their nests in communities; and thus the 
whole animal world becomes in a state of commo- 
tion." 



* To this general rule, there is a notable exception. Those who 
have camped in the forests of Lake Superior, have often heard, issuing 
from its deepest recesses, not only by day, but in the darkness of night, 
the song of a small bird, of which at times he may catch a glimpse, as 
it flits among the branches. 

Richardson, in his "Arctic Expedition," thus records: "The song 
of the Friugilla leucophrys has been heard day and night, and so 
loudly, in the stillness of the latter season, as to deprive us at first of 
rest. It whistles the first bar of ' Oh, dear, what can the matter be ! ' 
in a clear tone, as if played on a piccolo fife; and though the distinct- 
ness of the notes rendered them at first very pleasing, yet, as they 
haunted us up to the Arctic Circle, and were loudest at midnight, we 
came to wish occasionally that the cheerful little songster would time 
his serenade better." 



152 FOREST-CULTURE. 

So, too, in the northern forests, the deer at night 
resorts to the lake or running stream, tracked by 
his remorseless foe, the wolf. Hardly have the 
shades of evening fallen, when the panther, rousing 
himself from his lair, sets up a howl preliminary to 
starting on his predatory tramp, and the beaver 
and other aquatic animals begin their nocturnal 
tasks. 

Effects of Disrobing a Country of Forests. — 
Vast areas of the prairie-region now deemed too 
arid for cultivation, are as well-watered and possess 
as productive a soil as those regions adjacent to the 
Mediterranean which were formerly the sites of 
mighty cities in the midst of a densely-populated 
country. If, therefore, the desolation of these 
regions has been brought about by the agency of 
man, it becomes an interesting inquiry whether that 
agency, beneficially exerted, can not restore their 
former fruitfulness. If so, can not the area of the 
cultivable prairies be enlarged by an application of 
the same means? 

Mr. George P. Marsh, in a late work entitled 
"Man and Nature," has collected a vast body of 
facts tending to show the influence of man upon 
the material world. That influence has been bene- 
ficially exerted in the conversion of the desert into 
a garden, in draining marshes, in cutting canals and 



{ 



DESTRUCTION OF FORESTS. I53 

roads, in clearing at one point a portion of the 
forest and letting in the sunlight, and in planting 
forests at another. That influence has been inju- 
riously exerted by disrobing a country entirely of its 
forests, thereby creating a more arid climate by 
drying up the sources of the springs, and by giving 
the local winds an unresisted passage over the land, 
thereby communicating to it a more continental 
character. I shall refer to this storehouse of facts 
to illustrate my text: 

"If we compare," says he, "the present physical condition 
of the countries [around the borders of the Alediterrancan] 
with the descriptions that ancient geographers and historians 
have given of their fcrtihty and general capability of minister- 
ing to human uses, we shall find that more than one-half of 
their whole extent * * is either deserted by civilized men 
and surrendered to hopeless desolation, or at least greatly 
reduced both in productiveness and population. Vast forests 
have disappeared from mountain spurs and ridges ; tiie vegeta- 
ble earth, accumulated beneath the trees by the decay of leaves 
and fallen trunks, the soil of Alpine pastures which skirted 
and indented the woods, and the mould of the upland fields, 
are washed away ; meadows, once fertilized by irrigation, are 
waste and unproductive, because the cisterns and reservoirs 
that supplied the ancient canals are broken, or the springs that 
fed them dried up ; rivers famous in history and in song, have 
shrunk to humble brooklets ; the willows that ornamented and 
protected the banks of the lesser water-courses are gone, and 
the rivers have ceased to exist as perennial currents, because 
the little water that finds its way into their old channels is 
evaporated by the droughts of summer, or absorbed by the 
parched earth, before it reaches the lowlands ; the beds of the 
brooks have widened into broad expanses of pebbles and gravel, 
over whicli, though in the hot season passed dry shod, in win- 



154 FOREST-CULTURE. 

ter sea-like torrents thunder ; the entrances of navigable streams 
are obstructed by sand-bars ; and harbors, once marts of an 
extensive commerce, are shoaled by the deposits of the rivers 
at whose mouths they lie." 

The architectural ruins and other monuments 
attest that these regions, now almost withdrawn 
from human occupancy, must formerly have been 
tenanted by a dense population who derived their 
support from a soil of great productiveness. The 
causes of this decay, as traced by him, apart from 
the tyranny and misrule of the governing classes, 
are mainly found to be due to the destruction of the 
forests. Van Lennep states that one can not for a 
moment doubt that the parched region which lies 
between the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, was 
once a fertile garden, " before the forests which 
covered the hill-sides were cut down, before the 
cedar and the fir-tree were rooted up from the sides 
of Lebanon." To this cause. Sir John Herschel 
attributes the aridity of Spain; while, on the other 
hand, rain has become more frequent in Egypt since 
the palm has been more vigorously cultivated. * 

Bolander, in speaking of the power of certain 
trees to condense moisture, particularly the Red- 
woods {^Sequoia sempo'virens) ^ which are 
restricted to the foggy regions of the Coast 
Ranges of the Pacific and the underlying meta- 

* Marsh, ibidem. 



DESTRUCTION OF FORESTS. I55 

morphic sandstones, both of which conditions are 
required for their growth, uses this language: 

"It is my firm conviction tliat if the Redwoods are destroyed 
(and they necessarily will be, unless protected by the wise 
action of our Government,) California will become a desert, in 
the true sense of the word. In their safety depends the future 
welfare of the State ; they are our safeguard. It remains to be 
seen whether we shall be benefitted or not by the horrible expe- 
rience which such countries as Asia Minor, Greece, Spain, 
and France, have made, by having barbarously destroyed their 
woods and forests. But with us here, it is even of a more 
serious nature. Wise governments would be able to replace 
them in those countries ; but no power on earth can restore the 
woods of California, when once completely destroyed." * 

Rapid Destruction of the Forest in the United 
States. — In the United States, the destruction of 
the forest is going on at an accelerated rate. The 
lumber trees of Maine, in accessible positions, are 
nearly exhausted, and twenty years will accomplish 
the same result with regard to the extensive pineries 
of Michigan and Wisconsin. The White pine is 
the most valuable lumber tree of America. The 
ease with which it is wrought; its freedom, as com- 
pared with most trees, from shrinking, swelling, 
and warping; and its durability, when properly 
protected by paint; make it the principal tree 
employed in the construction of a vast majority of 
houses and even fences and sidewalks. To one 

* Bolander, Henry N., " Remarks on California Trees," "Pro. Cal. 
Acad. Nat. Sciences." 



156 FOREST-CULTURE. 

who realizes how rapidly the sources of supply are 
becoming exhausted, and the prodigality with which 
it is used, it can not but be disheartening. It is a 
tree of slow growth, and the surface on which it 
grows, when disrobed, is unfitted for profitable 
agriculture. The annual receipts at Chicago alone 
(a city which has sprung up within the life-time of 
a generation) are in excess of 730,000,000 feet of 
lumber, 400,000,000 of shingles, and 24,000,000 of 
lath. Possessing a material within easy reach, 
and on the banks of a canal, known as the Athens 
limestone — a double compound of carbonate of 
lime and magnesia — unequaled for flagging and 
building, and having a river whose dredgings are 
capable of conversion into brick, it is a singular 
fact which strikes every stranger within her gates, 
that Chicago should exhibit such an extent of plank- 
walks and wooden tenements, — structures of the 
most superficial character, which must soon give 
way to those more solid and enduring. The 
products of the lake pineries are distributed over 
nearl}^ half a continent. From them are built the 
farm-houses of the pioneers upon the solitary prai- 
rie, and the bridges which span the waters of the 
Kansas and the Platte. 

The destruction of hard-wood timber is g-oine 
on at a pace equally rapid. The railways require, 
annually, in construction and maintenance, at least 



DESTRUCTION OF FORESTS. I57 

10,000,000 of ties. Nothing strikes the emigrant 
from the Atlantic Slope, on returning after years 
of absence, so forcibly, as to see those hills which, 
in his youth, were forest-crowned, now bare and 
desolate, and the streams which he was accus- 
tomed to fish, dwindled to mere trickling rills. The 
Pacific railroads which traverse, for long distances, 
the valleys of the Kaw and Platte, have consumed 
in their construction nearly every stick of timber, 
and in four years will have consumed nearly all the 
fire-wood. Transportation is economized by strip- 
ping each tie of its bark, and allowing it to undergo 
the process of seasoning, before its conveyance to 
the place where required. The beautiful Black 
walnuts of the Kaw Valley, fit for gun-stocks and 
cabinet-ware, have been remorselessly sacrificed to 
these base purposes. Public policy requires that 
this wholesale destruction of the forest be arrested. 
As a sanitar}^ measure, in thronged cities, the side- 
walks should be firmly laid in stone or brick, 
instead of plank, which serve as coverings to 
reservoirs of stagnant waters, screened from the 
evaporation of the sun. A "balloon" house, as 
proverbially known throughout the West, can be 
hastily thrown up, but one of brick or stone is, in 
the end, far more durable and economical. Ties 
can be treated, at an inconsiderable expense, with 
kreosote or coal-tar, so that their durability shall be 



158 FOREST-CULTURE. 

protracted for a quarter of a century; but we have 
yet to learn the name of the corporation that has 
resorted to the process. The managers of such 
roads, particularly, as the Union Pacific, where 
transportation is so far and so expensive, would 
have consulted the true interests of their stock- 
holders if they had placed the iron on ties thus 
prepared. 

In the first settlement of the country, so far as 
relates to the Atlantic Slope, the Appalachian 
Region, and the Ohio Valley, the forest was the 
great obstacle to be encountered. The settlers 
attacked it as though it were a common enemy. 
To fell, to girdle, to " log," and to burn, those noble 
forms of vegetation whose origin stretches back 
to remote ages, was a preliminary work to that of 
planting, sowing, reaping, and harvesting. But that 
necessity no longer exists. 

Our people find themselves possessed of a coun- 
try vast in resources, but imperfectly developed. 
On every side, they see avenues leading to the 
exertion of human skill and energy. They are 
restless, eager in the pursuit of gain, and bound by 
few local attachments. In their investments, they 
look for immediate returns. If they build a house 
or subdue a farm, it is in reference to its market 
value, should they desire to migrate. If they plant 
trees, say they, two generations must elapse before 



FORESTS — THEIR LESSONS. 159 

they attain their growth. If appealed to, that their 
acts will be commended by posterity, they will 
probably answer, in the language of the bluff 
English statesman, "Confound posterity! what has 
it ever done for us?" But this is a narrow, selfish 
spirit. The future has claims upon the present 
generation, — that they shall not despoil the feir 
heritage which is entrusted to them as an usufruct, 
but transmit it to future generations, not only unim- 
paired, but beautified and adorned. 

Forests — Their Lessons. — They Modify Climate. 

" The groves were God's first temples ; 'ere man learned 
To hew the shaft and lay the architrave." 

No one can wander "throuirh the dim vaults and 
winding aisles" of a primeval forest, amid the 
"venerable columns" which support the "verdant 
roof," and listen to the sound of the "invisible 
breath" that "sways at once all their green tops," 
without acknowledging, with all-reverent spirit, 
that here he verily is in the sanctuary of Nature. 

Trees are the noblest manifestations of vesretable 
life. Like men, they flourish best in cotnmunities, 
and are dependent on one another for support. 
Their infancy must be sheltered beneath the out- 
stretching arms of the parent, until they acquire the 



l6o FOREST-CULTURE. 

strength and vigor to shoot into the upper air, and 
become self-supporting. 

They modify climate, in breaking the force of the 
winds, in sheltering the earth's surface from the 
intensity of the sun's heat, and in serving as the 
perpetual reservoirs for the supply of streams. 
The transitions of temperature on the plains of 
Kansas are very great. In the spring the winds 
may blow for several days from the southwest, 
bringing with them an almost summer tempera- 
ture, under whose influence the buds of fruit-trees 
expand and burst; when, suddenly veering to the 
northwest, the blast sweeps down from the snow- 
clad peaks of the Rocky Mountains, in cold and 
blighting frosts, the thermometer often dropping 
15° or 18°.* 

The interposition of a forest belt, or even of 
hedges of Osage orange, a shrub which flourishes 
on a prairie soil, would obviate these disastrous 
effects. It has been found, in older countries, that 
the effects of such a barrier extend to a very con- 
siderable distance above its own height. Becquerel 
states that, in the Valley of the Rhone, a simple 
hedge two metres (a little more than 5^ feet) in 
height, is a sufficient protection for a distance of 
twenty- two metres (72 feet) in length. 

* " Geological Report Kansas," 1866. 



FORESTS RETAIN MOISTURE. l6l 

" From the experience," says he, " in older countries, there 
is no doubt that the etiects of these cold blasts can be greatly 
mitigated ; and observation teaches that, while the tops of the 
trees are swayed by their violence, the surface air will be found 
calm and warm. Certain districts which have there been 
stripped of their forests, are now exposed to loss of hai-vests 
by tempests, droughts, and frosts. Hurricanes, before unknown, 
sweep unopposed over the regions thus denuded, conveying 
terror and devastation in their track." * 

Forests Retain Moisture. — The continuous 
existence of moisture in the forests, and its con- 
stant evaporation, modify the heats of summer. 
The leafy canopy of trees naturally condenses the 
floating vapors of the air, and causes them to 
descend in fertilizing showers. It retards the cir- 
culation of the atmosphere, and consequently retards 
evaporation. The leaves shed during the autumnal 
frosts, not only protect the ground, but serve as a 
sponge to absorb and retain a portion of the moist- 
ure which would otherwise find its way at once 
into the streamlets. 

On the other hand, the roots constantly draw 
from the earth moisture, which passes through the 
trunks and branches, as through a mass of capillary 
tubes, and this is given off through the leaves; a 
process by which the humidity of the air is increased 
and its temperature lowered. 

* Mar^h, "Nature and Man." 



l62 FOREST-CULTURE. 

"In wooded countries," according to Schacht, "the atmos- 
phere is generally humid, and rain and dew fertilize the soil. 
As the lightning-rod abstracts the electric fluid from a stormy 
sky, so the forest abstracts to itself the rain from the clouds 
which, in falling, refreshes not it alone, but extends its benefits 
to the neighboring fields. * * The forest, presenting a con- 
siderable surface for evaporation, gives to its own soil and to 
all the adjacent soil an abundant and enlivening dew. There 
falls, it is true, less dew on a tall and thick wood than on the 
surrounding meadows, which, being more highly heated during 
the day by the difference of insulation, cool with greater rapid- 
ity bv radiation. But it must be remarked, that this increased 
deposition of dew on the neighboring fields is partly due to the 
forests themselves ; for the dense saturated strata of air which 
hover over the woods, descend in cool, calm evenings, like 
clouds, to the valley, and in the morning, beads of dew sparkle 
on the leaves of the grass and the flowers of the field. For- 
ests, in a word, exert in the interior of continents, an influence 
like that of the sea on the climate of islands and of coasts ; 
both water the soil, and thereby insure its fertility." 

Tree- Planting. — Although the wooded regions, 
as shown by the h3'etal charts, have more abundant 
moisture and more equally distributed than the 
prairies, yet there is little doubt that, under suita- 
ble conditions, tree-planting may be successfully 
extended over larofe areas which now show no evi- 
dences of ever having been clothed with arborescent 
forms, first removing the light pulverulent soil so 
rich in humus, and bedding the rootlets in the stiff 
loamy subsoil; and as we push our conquests fur- 
ther into the domain of the grasses, the trees first 

* Schacht, " Lcs Arbrcs:" quoted bj Marsh. 



TREE-PLANTING. 163 

planted will have acquired the power of retaining 
not only the existing humidity, but of abstracting 
that which the winds bring from other quarters, and 
causing it to be precipitated. Thus, I doubt not 
that a century would very materially change the 
existing outlines between woodland and prairie. 

The effect of such tree-planting would be, as we 
have shown, to break the force of the fierce blasts 
so destructive to fruit-culture; to modify the 
extremes of heat and cold; to check the recur- 
rence of droughts; to fill the brooklets with run- 
ning water; and, at the same time, to beautify and 
adorn the country. 

Man appreciates these noblest types of the vege- 
table kingdom. He loves their symmetrical form, 
their spreading canopy of leaves, and their grateful 
shade. * His ideas of the pleasures of a country 
life are intimately connected with trees; and no 
object is more beautiful or attractive than a park 
with a carpet of bright greensward. Ever}^ farmer 

* An ordinary observer, after viewing the long avenues of elms 
•which line the streets of Hadley, Northampton, New Haven, and 
other New England villages, wonders at the dearth of shade-trees 
which characterizes western villages, whose sites have been reclaimed 
from the primeval forest ; but a little reflection would convince him 
that trees grown in the forest are mutually dependent upon one 
another for support, and lack the canopy of foliage which is required 
for shade. In clearing a forest, therefore, where isolated trees are left, 
they are found to be deficient both in the spread of their roots and 
limbs, and are liable to be toppled over by every careering blast. 
Hence, then, shade-trees are the result of a second growth, and under 
different climatic conditions. 



164 . FOREST-CULTURE. 

can commence a grove, and though he may not 
hope to enjoy its shade, it will be a highly-prized 
heritage to his children. 

Our ideas of rural felicity are, — a country of 
sufficient relief and depression of surface to admit 
of perfect drainage, divided in proper proportions 
between woodland, pasture, meadow, and field; 
v^ith springs gushing out from the shaded recesses 
of the forest, and furnishing perennial water to the 
streams which flow through the lowlands; with the 
rising knoll crowned by a neat painted farm-house 
and ample barns, protected by locust groves or 
fruit-bearing orchards, alike from winter winds and 
summer heats; with fields enclosed by well-trimmed 
hedges, and pastures dotted with clumps of trees, 
to which cattle can resort for shelter from the mid- 
day sun or the drifting storm; while, as a conspic- 
uous feature in the landscape, should stand out in 
bold relief, the village church and village school- 
house, a sign and symbol of the morality and intel- 
ligence of its inhabitants; — and such a landscape 
can be created almost every where in the fertile 
prairie-region of the West. 

God bless, then, the man who plants a tree! — 
whether by the dusty roadside or on the grassy 
plain; for thereby he renders himself a public bene- 
factor. The pedestrian, foot-sore and weary, as he 
pauses beneath its shade, shall bless him; the patient 



IRRIGATION. 165 

OX, with lolling tongue, shall bless him; his children 
and his children's children, as they gather in sportive 
group beneath its sheltering boughs, shall remember 
him. Not to the wandering Arab is the recol- 
lection of the solitary palm on the desert, over- 
hanging a fountain, more grateful than is to us the 
village elm, associated with childhood's sports. 
These associations touch a chord in the memory 
of every one, which shall cease to vibrate only 
with life itself The Charter Oak, the Big Elm of 
Boston Common, the Willow of Pope, and the 
Mulberry of Shakespeare, each has become histor- 
ical. Again we say, God bless the man who plants 
a tree I 

IRRIGA TION. 

Another method by which the aridity of the 
plains can be modified, under favorable conditions, 
is by irrigation, — an art practised by the early 
inhabitants of both continents, who represented the 
highest civilization then attained. The plains which 
contain the sites of Nineveh and Babylon, were 
irrigated by the surplus waters of the Tigris and 
Euphrates, distributed in a series of canals through 
the cultivated fields. Layard describes the ruins 
of an immense artificial mound erected in the heart 
of the AsSj i ian capital, built up with terraces, 



1 66 IRRIGATION. 

planted with the choicest flowers, and irrigated by 
fountains, — a work constructed by one of the mon- 
archs as a tribute of respect to the queen-consort, 
who had been born in a mountainous region, and 
desired some reminiscence of her youthful home. 
From the earliest ages, too, this system has been 
practised in the valley of the Nile, and the area 
thus cultivated, as indicated by the abandoned 
and nearly filled-up canals, was far more extensive 
under the Pharaohs than at this day. In Armenia, 
Palestine, India, and China, in fact throughout most 
Oriental countries, there is evidence that this prac- 
tice prevailed; and, without supposing an abandon- 
ment of it, we can not account for the diminished 
fertility of the soil, and the decimation of the popu- 
lation. 

When the Spaniards invaded Peru, they found 
the country developed by a great system of internal 
improvements; — an artificial road more than a thou- 
sand miles in length, forming a line of communi- 
cation through all the different provinces of the 
empire, the road-bed either macadamized or paved 
with flat stones; ravines and rivers spanned by 
bridges of stone, or wood, or rope; distances 
marked by mile-stones; station-houses of well-cut 
stone at convenient intervals; aqueducts for bring- 
ing water to the caravansaries; and cisterns for 
retaining water to irrigate the cultivated fields. As 



COLORADO. 167 

the Peruvians used no wheeled vehicles, the moun- 
tain steeps were scaled by long flights of steps 
with resting-places at proper intervals. Humboldt 
remarks that nothing he had seen of the remains of 
Roman roads in Italy, in the South of France, or 
in Spain, was more imposing than these works of 
the ancient Peruvians; and Hernando Pizarro, the 
brother of the Conqueror, exclaimed : " In the 
whole of Christendom, there are no where such 
fine roads as those which we here admire." * Not 
the least of the evils inflicted on the country b}^ 
the more warlike and, we might add, less civilized 
Spaniards, was the destruction of the aqueducts and 
cisterns by which the supplies of water were regu- 
lated. 

In Piedmont and Lombardy, according to Marsh, 
irrigation is bestowed on almost every crop, and 
the amount of water each day distributed over the 
plains would equal the entire volume of the Seine. 

This system has been successfully introduced 
along the slopes of the Rock}' Mountains. The 
farming operations of the Mormons exhibit a 
degree of thrift, and are attended with results, 
which it would be difficult for the prairie farmer 
of Illinois to parallel. The same results have been 
achieved in Colorado. The wheat thus grown is 
of the choicest kind, and the yield is far beyond 

* "Aspects of Nature." 



l68 IRRIGATION. 

that known in the most favored regions of the Mis- 
sissippi Valley. When it is ripened, the water is 
withdrawn, and the farmer may gather the crops at 
leisure, secure against blight or rains. The prices 
of wheat and beef at Denver are less than at Chi- 
cago. 

California has astonished the world by becoming 
a wheat-exporting region, but whether she will 
maintain this position, is a matter of doubt. Colton, 
who resided there during the early occupation by 
the Americans, says: 

" Some of the largest crops that ever rewarded the toll of 
the husbandman, have been gathered in California ; and yet 
those very localities, owing to a slender fall of winter rains, 
have next season disappointed the hopes of the cultivator. 
The farmer can never be certain of an abundant harvest, till 
he is able to supply the deficiency of rain by irrigation." * 

Antisell states that — 

" The annual fall of rain in the central counties is about 20 
inches. In the south, it ranges from 10 to 13 inches. As this 
quantity does not sufiice to keep the rivers running throughout 
the year, or to soak the soil thoroughly with moisture, irriga- 
tion is necessary during the summer months. In the latter 
period of the year, every thing languislies for drought, and the 
valleys that blossomed like the rose in March and April, with 
every wild flower, rare, beautiful, or fragrant, becomes from 
July to August, brown, parched, fissured, and the abode of the 
grasshopper and reptile. During October, sooner or later with 
the latitude, comes the first rain, and vegetation starts afresh 
into life and variety." f 

* "Three Years in California.' 

t "Pacific Railroad Survey," Vol. VII. 



COLORADO PLATEAU. 169 

During the rainy season, all of the agricultural 
operations are carried on. " The whole of the 
rain," he continues, " does not come at once, but 
at intervals, like the former and the latter rain of 
Judea." 

In the Valley of the Santa Clara, the varieties 
known as "California bearded" wheat and the 
"Chile" are cultivated. The seed is of good size 
and white, and the yield is from forty to fifty bush- 
els to the acre. Barley yields seventy-five bushels, 
and oats one hundred. 

The Colorado Desert is inhospitable, not so 
much by reason of the poverty of the soil, as 
absence of moisture, onl}^ requiring the presence 
of this condition to quicken vegetation into life, 
and secure to the cultivator abundant crops. The 
barometrical measurements carried over the valley, 
show that it is so much lower than the stream that 
it may be successfully irrigated. Capt. Humphreys 
gives the area as 4,500 square miles, or four 
times ofreater than that of the cultivated land of the 
Mississippi, between the mouth of Red River and 
the Balize, that may be rendered cultivable. 

The Colorado Plateau, or the Mesa formation of 
New Mexico, consists of broad uplands, abruptly 
terminated, according to Parry, by steep mural 
declivities, bounding narrow valleys of erosion, or 
presenting isolated buttes and fantastically castel- 



I7<^ IRRIGATION. 

lated rocks. The uplands are almost bare of detrl- 
tal materials, while the valleys afford strips of land 
adapted to agriculture. The Pueblo Indians are 
enabled to cultivate the soil, availing themselves 
of the inundations of the rivers, and to pasture their 
flocks by shifting them at different seasons to dif- 
ferent exposures, which involves a nomadic life. 

The region to the east of the Rio Grande pre- 
sents a far different aspect, and an increase of 
moisture alone is required to render it fertile 
beyond compare. Newberry thus describes it: 

"For seventy-five miles after leaving Santa Fe, and proceed- 
ing east, we were involved in the spui"s of the Rocky Moun- 
tains, and were passing through a remarkably picturesque and 
beautiful region, in which the sui'face is nearly equally shared 
between rocky, ragged, and pine-covered Sierras, and open, 
grassy valleys, through which flow streams of the purest water, 
fed by the melting of the snows. In this interval, we crossed 
the rim of the Great Mississippi Valley and began to descend 
its western slope. * * * The soil became more fertile, the 
vegetation moi*e varied. The summer showers by which we 
were di^enched, were for a time so refreshing a novelty that we 
scarcely cared to avoid them. By all these and other signs, 
we saw that we were emerging from the vast arid area [the 
Colorado Plateau], in which many preceding months had been 
passed, where sterility was the rule and productiveness the 
marked exception, and were approaching the region where a 
flowing stream is not a wonder, and where an unbroken sheet 
of vegetation covers the soil. * * The contrast of physical 
features presented by the plains east and west of the mountains 
is not merely of abstract interest. It involves all of the econ- 
omical differences between a nearly vminhabitable desert and 
perhaps the best agricultural region of the Continent." * 

* •' Pacific Riiilroad Surveys," Vol. XI. 



ROCKY-MOUNTAIN SLOPE. 17I 

So far from Providence having doomed these 
plains to everlasting sterility, they will be culti- 
vated whenever population shall press on the 
means of subsistence ; and the waters of the Platte, 
Kansas, Canadian, and Arkansas, will be gathered 
in reservoirs and distributed by canals through cul- 
tivated fields, like those of the Tigris and Euphrates, 
as in olden time. On the banks of the Euphrates 
w^as founded a city which the prophet pronounced 
" the glory of kingdoms," and the plains of Shinar 
sustained another city of nearly equal magnificence, 
whose "merchants" were "multiplied above the 
stars of heaven." 



CHAPTER VI. 

CLIMATE. 

DEFINITION OF CLIMATE ATMOSPHERIC CURRENTS RAINS 

AND WINDS CLOUD-BURSTS ISOTHERMAL LINES GULF- 
STREAM EVAPORATIVE POWER OF WINDS ISOTHERMS OF 

THE UNITED STATES CLIMATE OF THE PACIFIC AND GREAT 

BASIN PHENOMENA OF THE SEASONS TABLE OF TEM- 
PERATURES OF RAIN PRECIPITATION. 

Definition of Climate. — Climate, in its most 
extended sense, embraces a great variety of phe- 
nomena; such as the ever-varying changes of the 
atmosphere, the direction of the winds, the precipi- 
tion of rains, the distribution of temperature, the 
organic development of plants, and the conditions 
of animal life. Each of these branches, properly 
illustrated, would comprise a treatise; but we must 
content ourselves with announcins: oreneral results 
which have been recorded by numerous explorers 
in this domain of nature. Much information as to 
the distribution of winds and rains, which properly 
belongs to this subject, has already been anticipated 
in the preceding Chapters. 



ATMOSPHERIC CURRENTS. 173 

Atmospheric Currents. — We may regard the 
earth as surrounded by two oceans, — one aerial and 
the other aqueous. The height of the atmosphere 
has been assumed at fifty miles; but, owing to the 
difference of temperature at the Equator and at the 
Poles (as 80° to o), it is unequal, amounting to a 
difference of about four miles. Owing, also, to the 
rapidly-decreasing density of air, as we ascend into 
celestial space, one-half of the mass is compressed 
into a limit of three and one-half miles, which is 
less than the height of the culminating points of 
several of the great mountain chains, such as the 
Himalaya and the Andes; and hence it may be 
inferred, that those tremendous perturbations, as 
manifested in the tornado or hurricane, whose track 
is marked on the surface by indiscriminate ruin, 
extend to no great height in the region of space. 

Henry, in his " Contributions to Meteorology," 
has so well explained the complex system of winds 
that we shall avail ourselves of his explanation, but 
with some condensation. 

If the earth were at rest, he remarks, it is obvious 
that the air, expanded by the sun's heat at the Equa- 
tor, would rise up and flow over, descending, as it 
were, an inclined plane towards the poles, where it 
would reach the earth's surface, and flow back to 
the Equator, and thus a perpetual circulation would 
be maintained. It is further evident that, since the 



174 CLIMATE. 

meridians of the earth converge, all the air that 
rose at the Equator would not flow along the upper 
surface entirely to the Poles, but the greater portion 
would proceed no further north and south than lati- 
tude 30°, for the surface of the earth, contained 
between the parallel of this degree and the Equator, 
is equal to that of half of the whole hemisphere. 
Portions, however, in the Northern Hemisphere 
would flow on, to descend at different points 
further north; and of these portions, some probably 
would reach the pole, and there sink to the surface 
of the earth, and from that point diverge in all 
directions in the form of a northerly wind. Be- 
tween the two ascending currents near the Equator 
there would be a region of calms, or variable 
winds. The currents which flow over towards the 
poles would descend with the greatest velocity 
at the coldest point, because there the air would be 
densest. 

Now, the earth is in rapid motion on its axis, 
from west to east; and every particle of air, there- 
fore, flowing from the north to the Equator, would 
partake of the motion of the place at which it 
started, and would reach in succession lines of 
latitude moving more rapidly than itself It would, 
therefore, lag behind continually, and appear to 
describe on the surface of the earth a slightly 
curvilinear course towards the west; and hence 



ATMOSPHERIC CURRENTS. 1 75 

the Northeast Trades in the Northern Hemisphere, 
and the Southeast Trades in the Southern Hemi- 
sphere, where the conditions are reversed, but both 
blowins: towards the belt of o^reatest rarefaction. 

The particles of air approaching the equator will 
not ascend in a perpendicular direction, but will 
rise continually as they advance towards the west 
along an ascending plane, and will continue for a 
time their westerly motion in the Northern Hemi- 
sphere. After they have commenced their return 
towards the north, and until they arrive at parts of 
the earth moving more rapidly than themselves, 
they will gradually curve towards the east, and 
finally descend earthward, to become again a part 
of the surf ice Trade Winds from the northeast. 
The atoms will move westward as they ascend: 
I. On account of the momentum in that direction; 
and, 2. Because, as they reach a higher elevation, 
they will have less easterly velocit}' than the earth 
beneath. They will also be affected by another 
force, first pointed out by Mr. Ferrell, due to the 
increase of gravity which a particle of matter expe- 
riences in traveling in a direction opposite to that 
of the rotation of the earth. The last-mentioned 
cause of deflection will operate in an opposite 
direction on atoins when they assume an easterly 
course. The result of the complex conditions 
under which the motive-power acts in such a case, 



176 CLIMATE. 

would be to produce a system of circuits inclined 
to the west, the eastern portion of which would be 
at the surface, and the western portion at different 
elevations, even to the top of the atmosphere. 

The greater portion of the circulation would 
descend to the earth within 30° of the equator, 
giving rise to the Trade Winds 5 another portion 
would flow further north, and produce the South- 
west Winds; and another portion, flowing still 
further north, would descend to the earth as a 
Northwest Wind. The air which descends in the 
region of the North Pole would not flow directly 
southward; but, on account of the rotation of the 
earth, would turn towards the west, and become a 
northeasterly current. It might appear, at first 
sight, that the north wind which descends from the 
polar regions would continue its course along the 
surface, until it joined the Trade Winds within the 
tropics; but this could not be the case, on account 
of the much greater western velocity which this 
wind would acquire from the rapidly-increasing 
rotary motion as we leave the pole. * 

Thus it is that we have diflerent belts of air 
encircling the earth with girdles, divided, as it 
were, by impenetrable walls. In the circumpolar 
region of the North, we have the girdle of South- 
west Currents, bounded by the Calm Belt of Can- 

♦ Professor Joseph Henrj, •• Patent Office Report," 1S56. 



ATMOSPHERIC CURRENTS. I 77 

cer; in the circumpolar region of the South, the 
girdle of Northwest Currents (at right-angles to the 
former), bounded by the Calm Belt of Capricorn. 
Within the tropics, we have, north of the Equator, 
the girdle of Northeast Trades, and south (at right- 
angles), the girdle of Southeast Trades, with the 
Movable Belt of Variable Winds and Constant 
Precipitation, whose action is regulated by the 
advance and recession of the sun, during the pro- 
gress of the seasons. ( Vide Plate I.) This gives 
rise to the periodicity, in the tropics, of winds and 
rains. The breadth, too, of the several belts varies, 
being contracted into a smaller space towards the 
poles during the winter, and expanded into a wider 
space during the summer. 

If the earth were a sphere perfectly smooth, the 
flow of the winds, as thus defined, would be uni- 
form; but it is crested with ridges, the culminating 
points of which in some instances pierce, as we 
have seen, at least one-half of the mass of the 
aerial envelope, and hence interrupt that uniformity 
of flow, giving force and direction to local winds. 

The inclination of the earth's orbit to the Equator 
(23° 27' 54.8"), and the inclination of its axis to its 
orbit (66° 32'), give origin to a great variety of 
changes which exert a marked influence on animal 
and vegetable life. If the earth's Equator coincided 
with the Ecliptic, the sun would pursue an unvary- 
12 



178 CLIMATE. 

ing round, and to the inhabitants of the Poles it 
would never appear, except on the verge of the 
horizon. The days and nights would be of equal 
duration, the winds would blow constantly in one 
direction, and the difference between summer and 
winter temperature would be unknown. Instead 
of the vicissitudes of the seasons, — spring, with 
every valley and plain covered with new-born ver- 
dure; summer, with its maturing fruits and harvests; 
autumn, with its rustling and shriveled leaves; and 
winter, with its ice-bound streams and mantle of 
snow; — we should have at the Equator, eternal 
summer; at the verge of the Tropics, eternal 
spring; and within the Arctic Circle, which now, 
during the short-lived summer, is made verdant by 
a covering of Alpine blossoms, would reign eternal 
ice. 

Rains. — The ocean receives into its abyss the 
superabundant moisture of the land, and at the 
same time is the great source from which it ema- 
nates. The heated air which ascends from the 
Equator up into the regions of space, is saturated 
with moisture gathered in its passage across these 
wide expanses of water. The ocean may be com- 
pared to an enormous sponge, whose capacity for 
absorption is in direct proportion to its power of 
expansion. As the heated column ascends, it con- 



CONDITIONS OF RAIN-FALL. 1 79 

stantly encounters a diminished temperature, which 
condenses its volume, and causes it to part with a 
portion of its moisture, which descends under the 
form of fog, or dew, or hail, or rain, or snow, or 
ice. 

This action is more energetic under the direct 
rays of the sun than in the cold glare of an Arctic 
night; and hence it is, theoretically^ that the great-' 
est precipitation takes place within the tropics, and 
the least within the circumpolar regions. Hum- 
boldt estimates that the average rain-fall at the 
Equator is 96 inches; at latitude 19°, 80 inches; at 
45°, 29 inches; at 60"^, 17 inches. But there are 
disturbing causes, such as the configuration of the 
country by reason of lofty mountain chains, vast 
sandy plains, oceanic expanses, etc., as we have 
before shown, which modify the flow of atmos^ 
pheric currents; so that these speculations are 
nearly valueless. 

There are two conditions of the atmosphere 
under which precipitation ordinarily takes place: 
I. Where two equal portions of air at difl:erent 
temperatures, completely saturated with moisture, 
are mingled together, so as to partake of the mean 
temperature of the whole mass; and, 2. As in 
thunder-storms, due to the electrical action of the 
clouds, where the hygrometric moisture of the air 
is held in suspension by the mutual repulsion of the 



l8o CLIMATE. 

particles, until the electricity, which is the sustain- 
ing power, is withdrawn, when the particles coalesce 
and descend by the force of gravitation. To enter 
into an explanation of all these complex phenomena 
would lead to a wide digression from the objects 
of this Chapter; but it may be said that, through 
the ocean, with its connecting springs and rivers, a 
harmonious circulation of moisture is perpetually 
maintained over the whole of our planet, which 
may be compared to the flow of blood from the 
heart, through the arteries and veins of the human 
system, each pulsation of the great centre commu- 
nicating a vital force to the very extremities. 

In making an application of these general princi- 
ples to the Great Valley, it may be said that its 
configuration is such as to show marked peculiari- 
ties, both in reference to temperature and the 
distribution of moisture, which separate it in some 
degree from the Atlantic Slope, and widely from 
the Great Basin and the Pacific Slope. Walled in, 
as we have seen, both on the east and west, by two 
diverging mountain chains, and presenting between 
the Gulf of Mexico and the Arctic Sea no elevation 
much to exceed 2,000 feet, there is no great barrier 
to arrest the flow of the hot southerly winds of 
summer, or the cold northerly winds of winter; in 
this respect presenting far different structural rela- 
tions from those of the northern portion of the 



THUNDER-GUSTS. l8l 

Eastern Hemisphere. Though included mainly in 
the Belt of Southwest Winds, yet, owing to the 
configuration of the country, as before shown, it 
draws its supplies of moisture from the Northeast 
Trades, which, during one-half of the year, trav- 
ersing the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico 
before striking the land, bear the warmth of those 
waters far inland, and communicate to the region 
the peculiar semi-tropical character of its summers; 
while, during the other half of the year, the cold 
blasts of the north sweep down unopposed into the 
lower latitudes, producing all of the rigors of an 
Arctic winter. We have already adverted to the 
effects of these extremes of temperature upon the 
forest-growth, and shall have occasion to describe 
their influence in determining the range of those 
plants which are cultivated for human food. 

The phenomena often attending the summer 
precipitation are these: Day after day, under the 
influence of a southwest wind, the thermometer 
will mark a temperature of 90° or even 100° F., 
and however violent the wind, it brings no refresh- 
ing coolness, but rather increased languor. The 
sun glows with a fierceness and intensity unknown 
in the tropics, and the air itself seems to be deprived 
of ozone, or that principle of ox3'gen which com- 
municates life and energy to the system. But at 
length there comes a change. A cloud is seen to 



1 82 CLIMATE. 

gather in the north or northwest, which gradually 
unrolls its murky folds as it advances against the 
wind. The sky becomes overcast, and almost the 
darkness of night succeeds. Then there is a lull. 
The wind suddenly veers to an opposite point, and 
sweeps down with careering force. The air is filled 
with dust, and the foliage of the trees sways to and 
fro. The rain descends in torrents, accompanied 
by loud peals of thunder and intense flashes of 
lightning. Gradually the rain abates, the clouds 
disperse, the sun comes out, a rainbow spans the 
sky, new life is infused into the air, and every 
organism, whether animal or vegetable, is refreshed 
and invigorated. 

There are ordinarily two or three of these heated 
terms in the course of the summer season, termi- 
nated by abrupt changes of temperature. The 
prairie region, having no forest-belts to break the 
force of these thunder-gusts, suffers from their visi- 
tations; and each year there are recorded instances 
from this cause, of the loss of life and the destruc- 
tion of property. In the great northern forests, 
even, are to be seen wide tracks where every tree 
is prostrate, provincially known as " windfalls." 

Cloud-Bursts. — Standing at Denver, in a clear 
summer's afternoon, and looking west at the long 



CLOUD-BURSTS. 1 83 

range of mountains in whose gulches snow is 
perennial, a cloud may often be seen to rise up 
in a straight column, like the smoke of a volcano, 
and gradually spread out like the covering of an 
umbrella. Another cloud will rise up in another 
quarter and assume the same shape, until at length 
there is a mingling of vapors with electrical explo- 
sions, when there falls a gentle shower, extending 
often to a region which, but for these local phe- 
nomena would be nearly rainless. Soon the sun 
shines out, and the sky is cloudless. But these 
manifestations of electrical phenomena are not 
always equally harmless. Explorers in the Great 
Basin describe wide washes of coarse gravel, which 
bear unmistakable evidence of the action of violent 
torrents, which occasionally pour down the valleys 
and involve every thing in a common ruin. 

These phenomena are known as " cloud-bursts," 
and are frequently of such violence as to endanger 
life. The appearance is described by Mr. Harrison 
"as if an inverted whirlwind was drawing- from 
the cloud immense quantities of water, which it 
dashed in floods against the mountain sides." By 
these floods, he had known trees to be uprooted, 
and rocks transported to considerable distances. 
On one occasion, the water in the cailon was thirty 
feet deep. These storms are in the nature of a 



1 84 



CLIMATE. 



water-spout, and occur when elsewhere the sky is 
clear and cloudless. * 

In the region of Texas, and extending far up the 
Plains, there is a peculiar wind, experienced in the 
first months of the year, known as "a norther." 
The wind will blow from the Gulf for many days, 
brinofing- with it a summer heat. Man, under its 
influence, feels an oppressive languor, while vege- 
tation quickens into life; but almost instantaneously 
the weather-cock veers to the north, and a cold blast 
succeeds. Instances are recorded where the tem- 
perature has suddenly dropped from 84° to ^6°. 

During the winter, in Canada, the cold winds 
are northwest; in the Middle States, west; and in 
Texas, north. The winter storms are usually pre- 
ceded by southerly winds, and are attended with 
great fluctuations of the barometer. To these suc- 
ceed cold westerly winds, during which the mercury 
occasionally drops to -20°. 

Of all the storms, however, in the temperate 
region, the most cheerless and tantalizing to him, 
particularly, who is sensitive to rheumatic twinges, 
are those known as " northeasters." They are 
long-continued, and are accompanied by a chilling 
sensation not characteristic of rains from other 
quarters. These storms are rare in the Gulf region, 
but are felt, though in diminished force and fre- 

* W. J. Young, of Boise City, in " Smithsonian Report," 1S67. 



ATMOSPHERIC MOVEMENTS. 1 85 

quency, west of the Mississippi. The general 
cloud-movement, north of latitude 30°, is from 
west to east, whatever may be the direction of the 
surface current. The fact that a northeast storm 
may originate at Pittsburg or Washington, when 
a west wind is blowing at Boston, is pretty con- 
clusive that the saturation of the under current is 
not derived from the Atlantic. This fact, first 
observed by Franklin, is recognized by men 
engaged in the practical pursuits of navigation.* 

Without further detail as to the atmospheric 
movements, we submit the following summary: 

1. That the Northeast Trades, deflected in their 
course to south and southeast winds, in their pas- 
saofe throujrh the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of 
Mexico, are the warm and moist winds which 
communicate to the Mississippi Valley and the 
Atlantic Slope, their fertility. 

2. That the prevalence of these winds from May 
to October, communicates to this region a sub- 
tropical climate. 

3. That, in the region bordering on the Gulf of 

* Mr. Prescott states that the owner of a line of steamers plying 
between Boston and Portland, employs an agent in New York to 
transmit to him daily reports of the weather. If foul, he sends a mes- 
sage at 8 A.M. ; if a storm comes up, he sends another at noon ; and 
another at 3 o'clock P.M., giving a full statement of its progress. If 
violent, the owner then orders the Portland boat to remain in harbor; 
and next determines whether the Boston boat can reach Portland 
before the storm can overtake her. {•• History Electric Telegraph.") 



1 86 CLIMATE. 

Mexico, the atmospheric disturbances are propa- 
gated from south to north; but in the Northern and 
Middle States, owing to a prevaiHng upper current, 
from west to east. 

4. That while this upper current is cool and dry, 
and we have the apparent anomaly of rain-storms 
traveling from west to east, at the same time the 
moisure supplying them comes from the south. 

5. That, in the winter, the south and southeast 
winds rise into the upper current, while the west 
and northwest winds descend and blow as surface 
winds, accompanied by an extraordinary depression 
of temperature, creating, as it were, an almost 
Arctic climate. 

6. That the propagation of the cold winds from 
west to east, is due to the existence of a warmer 
and lighter air to the eastward. 

7. That in summer the westerly currents seldom 
blow with violence, because, in passing over the 
heated plains, they acquire nearly the same tem- 
perature as the southerly currents; but in winter, 
these conditions are reversed. 

Isothermal Li ties. — Before the laws of clima- 
tology were understood, it was customary to judge 
of the mean temperature of a place by its distance 
from the Equator; but with the progress of physi- 
cal geography, it was found that the influence of 



ISOTHERMAL LINES. 187 

radiation was essentially modified by the presence 
of large oceanic or continental areas. Humboldt 
was the first to connect together, by certain lines, 
those places which possessed the same degree of 
temperature; and he extended the application, 
by lines uniting places where the summer tempera- 
ture was the same, and the places where the winter 
temperature was the same. The lines of mean 
annual temperature were termed Isothermal y those 
of mean winter temperature, Isochimetial ', and 
those of mean summer temperature, Isotherial. 

The lines of mean winter and summer tempera- 
ture, when traced around the earth, are not parallel, 
but exhibit convex and concave summits, and often 
describe sharp curves. The mean annual tempera- 
ture of two places may be equal, and yet the sum- 
mer and winter temperatures may present the most 
abrupt contrasts. Compare, for instance, Dublin, 
Ireland, with West Point, New York: 

Lat. Mean. Winter. Spring. Sutnmer. Autumn, 

Dublin 5323' 49-1 40-2 47-i 59-6 49-7 

West Point.. 4^23' 50.7 29.7 4S.7 71.3 53.3 

Difference.. .12° 1.6 10.5— 1.6 11.74- 3-5 

We are first struck with the difference in latitude, 
Dublin being 12° further north; and next, while 
the mean temperature of the year is about the 
same, the winters are more than 10° colder, and 
the summers more than 1 1 ° warmer, thus making 



lOO CLIMATE. 

an extreme difference of nearly 22° in the yearly 
variation between the two points. And yet Ireland, 
with her equable climate and moist skies, where 
the orange may remain out-doors unfrosted, all the 
year round, can not mature those fruits and grasses 
which fully ripen on the banks of the Hudson. 
The deflection of the isothermal lines to the south, 
in passing from the western coast of Europe to the 
eastern coast of the United States, is equivalent to 
about 11° of latitude, or nearly 700 geographical 
miles. The reason of this, when we come to com- 
prehend all of the phenomena, is obvious. 

The Gulf- Stream. — This current, with a mean 
temperature of 80°, sets over from the coast of 
Africa, into the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of 
Mexico, then abruptly curves around the extreme 
peninsula of Florida, and conforms in its course to 
the trend of the Atlantic Slope as far north as lati- 
tude 40°, when it is deflected northeast, and spreads 
itself in a fan-like shape over the cold waters of 
Western Europe, from Spitzbergen to the Bay of 
Biscay; throwing upon those shores the warmth 
and moisture gathered in the tropics, and commu- 
nicating an equable climate unknown to the eastern 
portion of the United States. 



OCEANIC CURRENTS. 1 89 

The Arctic Current. — The Arctic Current 
which, setting from Baffin's Bay, flows along the 
coasts of Labrador and Newfoundland, interposes 
a zone of cold water between the Gulf-Stream and 
the land, which refrigerates the region far inland. 
The winds, too, which prevail on the land, are cold 
westerly winds, and off-shore, thus bearing the 
warmth and moisture of the Gulf-Stream away 
from the United States. This is evident from the 
fact that a vessel often in approaching the coast, in 
mid-winter, finds her shrouds and decks encased in 
ice, so much so as to render her nearly unmanage- 
able. Reversing her course, a few hours' run 
brings her into a summer heat; the ice drops from 
her shrouds, the frosted crew are warmed by the 
soft breath of the Gulf-Stream, and are reinvig- 
orated to encounter again the perils of a winter's 
sea. 

The harbor of St. John has been known to 
remain closed until June, while that of Liverpool, 
two degrees further north, is never obstructed by 
ice. A native of the British Isles, taking up his 
abode in New York, finds a climate almost the 
reverse of that to which he has been accustomed; 
a summer as hot as that of Rome, and a winter as 
cold as that of Copenhagen. 

We can conceive of changes in the relative level 
of the land and sea, by which Western Europe 



190 CLIMATE. 

would assume climatic conditions such as pre- 
vailed during the Drift epoch. A German physi- 
cist (Harwig) has remarked: 

" If we suppose the narrow isthmus of Central America to 
be sunken in the ocean, the warm equatorial current would 
no longer follow its circuitous route around the Gulf of Mexico, 
but pour itself through a new opening directly into the Pacific. 
We should then lose the warmth of the Gulf-Stream ; and 
cold Polar currents, flowing further south, would take its place, 
and be driven on our coasts by western winds. The North 
Sea would resemble Hudson's Bay, and its harbors would be 
free from ice only in summer. The power and prosperity of 
its coasts would shrivel under the breath of winter ; commerce, 
industry, fertility of soil, and population, would disappear ; 
and the vast ■waste — a new Labrador — would become a 
worthless appendage of some clime more favored by nature." 

Between the eastern coast of the United States 
and the western coast of Europe, there is a simi- 
larity in the equable precipitation of rain, but a 
marked dissimilarity in the temperature of the sea- 
sons. Between the western coast of the United 
States and the western coast of Europe, there is a 
marked similarity in the temperature of the seasons, 
but a marked dissimilarity in the distribution of 
rains. 

Eva-porative Power of the Wifids. — While the 
annual fall of rain in the British Isles averages 2)^ 
inches, that of the Atlantic coast is 44 inches. 
The air of the latter region is dryer, notwithstand- 



EVAPORATION. I9I 

ing this excess of rain, for the reason that its evap- 
orative power is greater. This arises from two 
causes: — the greater proportion of cloudless skies, 
and the higher temperature of the summers. Com- 
paring Cambridge, Massachusetts, with White- 
haven, England, — one of the most copiously 
watered points in the British Isles, — we find that 
the annual precipitation is nearly the same (4448 
inches and 45-25 inches), and that the annual evap- 
oration is as 56 to 30.03 inches. 

The United States enjoy a serenity of sk}'' 
unknown to Great Britain. While in one country 
the crops are subject to drought with a great sum- 
mer precipitation, in the other they are liable to be 
injured by excess of moisture; while in the lower 
latitudes of the United States the grasses shrivel 
up and die, under the heats of a summer's sun, in 
Ireland they preserve a perennial green. These 
examples show that the dryness of a climate does 
not depend upon a mere deficiency of rain, but 
upon heat which expands the air and increases its 
absorbing capacity, and upon the serenity of the 
skies which permits evaporation to take place. 
The air is the dryest in the hottest months, when 
evaporation is the greatest; it contains the greatest 
dampness in the coldest months, for the reason that 
the moisture is condensed and thus rendered appar- 
ent. 



192 



CLIMATE. 



Isotherms of the United States. (See Plate 
II., at the end of the Chapter.) — In comparing 
the climate of the Atlantic Slope with that of the 
Great Valley, where it assumes the character of 
treeless plains, it is found that, as we advance into 
the interior, the summers become warmer and the 
winters cooler. Great as are the extremes on the 
sea-board, they become greater, on the prairies, — 
thus showing the effect of the earth's radiation over 
vast surfaces remote from internal seas, and deprived 
of forest-belts. The presence of the ocean tends, 
in some degree, to mitigate the excessive tempera- 
ture of the Atlantic Slope, and the same effect is 
produced by the forests which clothe not only the 
crests but the slopes of the AUeghanies. The 
Great Lakes also exercise a similar influence over 
the adjacent regions. Hence, as we trace the 
isotherms of spring and summer, say from New 
York as a geographical point, they are found to 
pursue a pretty uniform directiori westerly until 
they reach the western' shore of Lake Michigan, 
when they abruptly curve to the northwest, and at 
longitude 105° are found to have deviated about 8° 
from the corresponding parallel of latitude. Capt. 
MuUan, who was engaged in the Pacific Railroad 
Surveys of this region, and was subsequently 
detailed to open a wagon-road from Fort Benton 
to the Columbia, gives several citations of mean 



ISOTHERMS. 193 

temperature. That of Walla-Walla, in latitude 
46°, corresponds to that of Washington, latitude 
38°; that of Clark's Fork, 48°, to that of St. 
Joseph's, Mo., 41°; and that of Bitter-Root Valley, 
46°, to that of Philadelphia, 40°. 

In reference to the climatology of this region, he 
remarks : 

"As early as the winter of 1S53, which I spent in these 
mountains (the Upper Missouri Valley), my attention was 
called to the mild open region lying between the Deer-lodge 
Valley and Fort Laramie, where the buffalo roamed in mil- 
lions during the winter, and which, during that season, consti- 
tuted the great hunting-grounds of the Crows, Blackfeet, and 
other mountain tribes. * * * Xhe meteorological statistics 
collected during a great number of years, have enabled me to 
trace an isochimenal line across the continent, from St. 
Joseph's, Missouri, to the Pacific ; and the direction taken by 
this line is wonderful, and worthy the most important attention 
in all future legislation that looks towards the travel and settle- 
ment of this country. This line, which leaves St. Joseph's, in 
latitude 40°, follows the general line of the Platte to Fort Lar- 
amie, where, from nevv'ly-introduced causes, it tends north- 
westerly between the Wind-River Chain and the Black Hills, 
crossing the summit of the Rocky Mountains in latitude 47° ; 
showing that in the interval from St. Joseph's, it had gained 
6° of latitude. Tracing it still further westward, it goes as 
high as 48°, and develops itself in a fen-like shape, on the 
plains of the Columbia. From Fort Laramie to Clark's Fork, 
I call this " an atmospheric river of heat," varying in width 
from one to one hundred miles. On either side, north and 
south, are walls of cold air, which are so clearly perceptible 
that you always detect when you are on its shores." * 

* Captain Mullan, "Guide to Oregon," etc., 1S65. 
13 



194 CLIMATE. 

Captains Paliser and Blackstone, of the English 
Army, accompanied by Dr. Plector as Geologist, in 
their report of the Saskatchawan country, and of 
the region lying between Lake Winipeg and the 
Rocky Mountains, which are embraced in this 
warm belt, state that there is an area of 11,000,000 
acres of fertile soil, where the winters are mild, 
and where the Hudson Bay Company have pro- 
duced every crop grown in the Northwestern 
States. In the Pembina Settlement, we know that 
for years agriculture has been successfully prose- 
cuted. 

In explanation of these phenomena, it may be 
said that the Rocky Mountains, as we have before 
shown, attain their highest elevation south of the 
South Pass, in the parallel of 39° north, and as pro- 
longed northward, they drop down and become 
merged in hills of moderate elevation. Throuo^h 
this depression, it is believed that the warm breath 
of the Pacific, brought by the southwesterly winds, 
flows, until it is met by the cooler currents which 
prevail over the eastern slope of the Great Valley. 
The effect of this flow is to modify the rigor of 
the climate on the eastern slope of the Rocky 
Mountains as far up even as Athabasca and the 
Assiniboin, and to render subservient to agriculture 
a region corresponding in latitude, on the Atlantic 
Coast, with the inhospitable wastes of Labrador. 



GULF COAST. I95 

Along the Gulf Coast, the isothermal lines pursue 
a nearly uniform parallelism with those of latitude, 
until they strike the high table-lands of Western 
Texas, when they are rapidly deflected south; but 
in their passage across the Great Basin, are rapidly 
deflected to the north. 

The upper portion of the Mississippi Basin is 
more directly exposed, in spring and summer, to 
the warm, moist breath exhaled from the Gulf, than 
the sea-board; and its effect is seen in the increased 
duration of tropical heat, and the quickening power 
communicated to vegetation. The profuse rains 
which characterize this portion of the year, deprive 
the climate largely of its continental features, and 
dispense their fertilizing effects far towards the 
base of the Rocky Mountains. 

Climate of the Gulf Coast. — Along the Gulf 
Coast, the climate assimilates in its features to that 
of the tropics, — clear blue skies in the morning, 
starlight nights, gentle showers at midday, and a 
luxuriant vegetation, with large spreading leaves, — 
unlike the vegetation of the Plains, where the dry 
air concentrates the saps, and often communicates 
to the plants an aromatic odor. But even here, the 
fluctuations of temperature occasioned by the 
change of air-currents, are very great. The south 
winds sweeping over the Caribbean Sea and the 



1C)6 CLIMATE. 

Gulf of Mexico, are moist and warm, while the 
north winds, meeting with no barrier to arrest their 
progress, and being overland, are dry and cold; 
and hence the changes of temperature are abrupt. 
At New Orleans, snow occasionally falls, and for a 
short time whitens the ground. The frosts which 
accompany the " northers " are of sufficient inten- 
sity to destroy the sugar-cane and cotton-plant; but 
at the same time, while they do not strip the trees 
of their leaves, they hardly admit of a perpetually- 
verdant vegetation. The processes of fructification 
and foliation are arrested, and the distinctions be- 
tween summer and winter are faithfully preserved. 
The effect of these two differences which we 
have pointed out, between the climate of the Upper 
Mississippi Valley and the Atlantic Slope, — to wit, 
excess of moisture and warmth during the summer, 
and deficiency of moisture during the fall and win- 
ter, — are conditions highly favorable to the growth 
of the grasses, and unfavorable to the growth of 
arboreal forms; a fact which nature seems to have 
written in legible characters on the features of this 
region. If the conditions of equally-distributed 
rains over the four seasons, which characterize the 
climate of the sea-board, as before shown, existed 
west of the Mississippi, it would greatly restrict the 
area over which the cerealia can be cultivated, and 
render uninhabitable a reo-ion which will hereafter 



PACIFIC SLOPE. 197 

afford a vast range of pasturage to the domestic 
herds. 

In tracing the isotherms for the fall and winter 
seasons, a depression of the lines, so far as relates 
to the Upper Mississippi region, begins to manifest 
itself during the autumnal months, which becomes 
more marked as the season advances. Thus, St. 
Paul's, which has the summer temperature of West 
Point, has the winter temperature of Montreal; and 
Fort Riley, which has the summer temperature of 
Washington, has the winter temperature of New 
York. 

The Gulf Coast exhibits no marked deflections 
of temperature until the Llano Estacado is 
reached. The interposition of the Rocky Moun- 
tain Chain, many of whose peaks are snow-clad, 
and many of whose sheltered valleys retain the 
drifted snows during the entire year, causes a local 
refrioferation of the air which is exhibited in a 
series of abrupt curves, like the plications of strata 
in a highly metamorphic mountain range. 

Climate of ihe Pacific Slope. — Notwithstand- 
ing the equable temperature which characterizes 
the immediate Pacific Coast, the foot-hills of the 
Sierra Nevada and the Colorado Valley exhibit an 
intensity of heat seldom indicated by the thermom- 
eter in other parts of the world, whether on the 



198 CLIMATE. 

Neva, the Senegal, the Ganges, or the Orinoco. 
Humboldt has remarked that on no part of the 
earth's surface, if the observations be properly 
made in the shade, at a distance from all solid 
bodies which radiate heat, and with thermometers 
not filled with spirit which absorbs light, do the 
readings range higher than between 93° and 104° j 
and that those excessive heats of 122° and 133°, 
recorded by Ritchie, in the oasis of Mourzouk, 
must be ascribed to hot particles of sand floating 
in the air. 

At Ringgold Barracks, in the Rio Grande Valley, 
the mean of the observations, at 3 o'clock P.M., for 
the entire three summer months of 1850, was 101.2°, 
and the single extremes reached 107° for each 
month. Still higher readings are recorded in the 
Colorado Valley, at Fort Yuma, and in the San 
Joaquin Valley, at Fort Miller, reaching at the 
former point 121°, and at the latter 116°.* Now, 
when we reflect that the mean temperature of the 
tropics, the region of the palms, is between 78.2° 
and 85.5°, we see that, for continuous periods, the 
Pacific Slope, and also the Colorado Valley, have a 
climate where the heat is as excessive as within 
the torrid zone; and occasionally the thermometer 
marks as high a temperature on the borders of 
Lake Superior, and even at Methy Lake (latitude 

* Blodget, " Climatology of the United States." 



OCEANIC CURRENTS. 1 99 

56° -^6' 30" N., and longitude 109'' 52' 54" W.,) as 
beneath the vertical rays of a tropical sun. 

Oregon has an equable climate^ The rains, as in 
California, assume a periodic character, and winter 
is the rainy season. As early as the middle of 
February, the grounds are ploughed and planted. 

Sitka lies in the region of constant precipitation, 
and the annual rain-fall reaches 90 inches, — an 
amount equal to that which ordinarily falls at the 
Equator. While here the winter temperature is 
about the same as that of Washington City, or St. 
Louis, the summer temperature is that of the northern 
shore of Lake Superior. British Columbia and the 
southern slope of what were lately the Russian 
Possessions, now added to our domain, partake of 
these equable features. 

To account for these climatic conditions, it is 
only necessary to study the topography of the 
country in connection with the prevailing winds 
and currents. The peninsula of Alaska juts far into 
the Pacific, and is separated from Asia by Behring's 
Straits, whose channel in the narrowest part is 
only thirty miles broad and twenty-five fathoms 
deep. Through these Straits, no icebergs from the 
Polar Sea escape into the Pacific, but a warm cur- 
rent, setting in an opposite direction, enters these 
reofions of ice, while a cold current strikes the Cali- 
fornian coast as low down as San Francisco. This 



200 CLIMATE. 

region, too, is in the belt of Southwest Winds 
which traverse a vast expanse of waters, warmed 
by a tropical sun, before they strike the shore. 
The country sinks down so as to permit their flow 
inland, warming up the Athabasca and Saskatcha- 
wan regions, as before shown, until their influence 
is destroyed by the continental conditions which 
prevail in the interior. 

Thus, then, it may be said that the conditions of 
climate on the Atlantic Slope are continental, on 
the Pacific Slope oceanic, while those of the Great 
Interior Plain are of a mixed character, resulting 
from the conflict of these two systems. 



PHENOMENA OF THE SEASONS. 

Lake Superior Region. — That portion of the 
region occupied by the great Coniferous forest, has 
but two seasons, summer and winter. About the 
middle of September, heavy gales sweep over the 
lake, and hoar-frosts fall, nipping the leaves of the 
deciduous trees, of which the maple is conspicuous, 
and dyeing them with many-colored tints. Large 
flocks of geese, arranged in a V-like form, are seen 
winging their way southward, filling the air with 
discordant notes, and the lesser water-fowl follow 
in their track. By the middle of October, the snow 



AURORAS. 20I 

begins to fall, and to this succeeds an interval of 
calm, lasting two or three weeks, when winter 
sets in in earnest. The interior lakes are closed 
with a thin covering of ice, and land and water are 
wrapped in a mantle of snow, so that the ground 
becomes frozen to no great depth. The dense 
forest prevents the drifting of the snows, and the 
warmth of the soil is retained until the opening of 
spring. The thermometer occasionally drops to 
-30°, follow^ed by a dry, cold, and elastic northwest 
wind, -which seems to rob the temperature of its 
intensity, so far as relates to its effects upon the 
human system. The trapper, amid these intense 
colds, and shod with snow-shoes, pursues his accus- 
tomed round, camping at night with his feet towards 
the log-built fire, with no other covering than a 
Mackinac blanket. 

During the long winter nights, the northern sky 
is frequently illumined with brilliant streaks of 
variously-colored light, which reach to the zenith, 
and then dissolve in luminous waves. So intense 
are they at times as to communicate a crimson tint 
to the snow, and clothe every object with an unnat- 
ural hue. The Northern Lights increase in number 
and intensity in September and March, as though 
there was an intimate connection between these 
phenomena and the changes of the equinoxes. 

The animal tribes are in various ways affected 



202 CLIMATE. 

by these protracted winters. The bear and hedge- 
hog remain in a state of hybernation; the ermine 
and the hare put on a robe of white; the beavers, 
living- in communities, erect houses several stories 
in height, putting on the exterior coat after the 
frosts have set in, that it may freeze hard, and thus 
resist the attacks of their natural enem}', the wol- 
verine. The fur-bearing animals are now in per- 
fection, and in man they find their most remorseless 
foe. 

Towards the end of April, the streams become 
released from their ic}' fetters. When the weather 
has become so far mollified, as it ordinarily does by 
the middle of March, to thaw at midday and freeze 
at night, the sap of the maple begins to flow, and 
then commences the sugar-harvest. This tree, as 
far north as the shores of Lake Superior, clothes 
most of the ridges, and the bird's-eye and curled 
varieties are the most abundant. By the beginning 
of May, when the sun's rays have acquired sufficient 
power to dissolve the snows, the trees start from 
their winter's sleep, and commence the process of 
foliation with an activity unknown in lower lati- 
tudes; the air is vocal with the hum of insects; the 
birds resume their accustomed haunts; and all 
nature seems roused from a lethargic sleep. 

In June, the thermometer often rises to 90°, and 
the sun's rays have a scalding effect. In reference 



INSECT-LIFE. 203 

to the heat of these northern latitudes, Richardson, 
when on the Mackenzie River, entered on his jour- 
nal that the irritability of the human frame is either 
greater, or the sun, notwithstanding its obliquity, 
acts more powerfully than near the Equator; for he 
had never felt its direct rays so oppressive within 
the tropics, as he experienced in these sub-Arctic 
regions. The luxury of bathing, even, is not with- 
out alloy; for if you choose the midday, you are 
assailed in the water by the Tabani (moose-flies), 
who draw blood in an instant with their formidable 
lancets; and if you select the morning or evening, 
clouds of mosquitoes, hovering around, fasten on 
the first part that emerges.* But these are not the 
only foes. The black fly on the high ridges is so 
abundant that the wood-chopper has to go masked; 
and on the sand-beeches, the midges, although 
nearly microscopic, inflict a sting that burns like 
the point of a glowing coal of fire. Thus, nothing 
can be more uncomfortable than summer life in a 
northern forest. The explorer is assailed by day 
and night, whether by the lake-shore or on the 
mountain-top, by myriads of insects thirsting for 
his blood, who seem to make up in activity for the 
brief period of their summer's existence. 

The presence of so large a body of water as is 
contained in the Great Lakes, modifies the range 

* "Arctic Journey." 



204 CLIMATE. 

of the thermometer, lessening the winters cold and 
the summer's heat. Lapham has given a map,illus- 
tratino; in an accurate manner the effects of this 
action, so far as relates to the State of Wisconsin.* 
In freezing, the water evolves a large amount of 
heat, and during the summer the winds are tem- 
pered in passing over its surface. When the 
unclouded sun sinks behind the western horizon, a 
cool breeze commences blowing toward the heated 
surface of the land; so that, however hot the day 
may have been, the night is rarely sultry. In the 
winter, the ice accumulates around the shores, 
drifting with the prevailing winds, and it is rare 
that the blue water is not seen beyond. When the 
thermometer suddenly drops below zero, — the air 
becoming far colder than the water, — vast columns 
of vapor roll up from the surface, like the steam 
from some great geyser; or, if a wind prevail, it is 
drifted like the smoke from a burning prairie. 
This scud, when driven inland, invests every tree 
and shrub with ice which, in the clear sunlight, 
flashes back the rays like so many surfaces of the 
purest crystal. 

Climate of the Plains. — The climate of the 
Plains exhibits some peculiarities deserving of 
notice, — such as the purity of the air; the cloudless 

* " Chicago Academy of Sciences," Vol. I. 



RANGES OF TEMPERATURE. 205 

skies during certain seasons, giving to the landscape 
such sharply-defined outlines; the dewless nights; 
the illusive phantoms of the mirage; and the feeling 
of vastness w^hich impresses every beholder as he 
stands on some high swell, and in every direction, 
sees the surface stretched out like a hemisphere. 

As in the distant north there is a minp-lino- of 
spring and summer, so here the summer is pro- 
tracted far into autumn. This is the most delio-ht- 
ful season of the year, characterized by an absence 
of severe rain-storms, with a cool, bracing atmos- 
phere, so gratifying to the physical system that 
man exults "in the intense consciousness" of his 
existence. 

That delicious season known as " Indian sum- 
mer" is often prolonged into December, when a 
calm, soft, hazy atmosphere fills the sky, through 
which, day after day, the sun, shorn of his beams, 
rises and sets like a globe of fire. This peculiarity 
is observed as far north as Lake Superior, but is 
more conspicuous and protracted in Kansas and 
Missouri, but does not extend south, into the lower 
latitudes of the United States. 

Thus it will be seen that the Mississippi Valley 
possesses a great diversity of climate; and this is 
naturally to be inferred, when we consider that it 
extends through twenty degrees of latitude, and 
that its western rim, at many points, rises into the 



2o6 



CLIMATE. 



region of perpetual snow, so that the traveller 
may elect whether to breathe the pure and difficult 
air of the mountains, or the soft and balmy air 
wafted from the tropics. 



TABLE OF TEMPERATURES IN THE UNITED STATES. 
Compiled from Blodgefs " Climatology." 



Toronto, Canada, 

Portland, Me., 

Portsmouth, N. H., 

Cambridge, Mass., 

Amherst, " 

New York City. 

Albany, N. Y., 

Rochester, " 

Philadelphia, Pa., 

Gettysburg, '• 

Washington City 

Charleston. S. C., 

Pensacola, Fla., 

Vera Cruz, Mexico, 

Mobile, Ala., 

New Orleans, La., 

Galveston, Texas, 

Fort Towson, I. T., 

St. Louis, Mo., 

Cincinnati, O., 

Hudson, " 

Ann Arbor, Mich., ........ 

Fort Wilkins, Lake Superior, 
Fort Brady, " 

Milwaukee, Wis., . 

Chicago, 111., 

Fort Madison, Iowa, 

St. Paul's, Minn 

Fort Scott. Kansas, 

Fort Leavenworth, " 

Fort Riley, " 

Fort Kearney, Neb., 

Fort Laramie, " 

Great Salt Lake 

Fort Benton, Upper Mo.,. . . . 

Fort Union, Texas, 

Santa Fe, New Mexico, 

Fort Yuma, Col., 

San Francisco, Cal., 

Sacramento, " 

Fort Miller, " 

Dalles of Columbia 

Astoria, Oregon, 

Sitka, Alaska, 



ALT. 

Feet. 



20 
20 

71 

267 

23 

130 

506 

60 

600.? 

78 

20 

20 

GO 

25 

10 

GO 

300.'' 

1. 131 

700.'' 

627 

600 

820 

1,000.'' 

S96 

I-H7 
2.360 
4.519 

4-351 

2,663 

6,418 

6,846 

120 

50 

.SO 

402 

350 

50 

50 



SPRING 


summ'r 


41. 1 


64.8 


42.8 


65.2 


43-2 


64.4 


^4•3 


68.6 


45.0 


68.6 


48.7 


72.1 


46.7 


70.0 


44.6 


67.6 


50.6 


71.0 


50.Q 


71.6 


,S4-2 


73-1 


6q.8 


80.6 


68.6 


81.6 


78.0 


81.5 


70.1 


82.7 


70.0 


82.3 


71.0 


82.5 


62.4 


79.1 


54-1 


76.2 


54-3 


73-0 


49.1 


70.2 


4S-S 


66.3 


,38.5 


60.8 


37-6 


62.0 


42.3 


67-3 


44-9 


67-3 


50.5 


73-2 


45-6 


70.6 


.S4-8 


74-9 


53-8 


74.1 


.S6.5 


77.2 


46.8 


71-5 


46.8 


71.9 


.SI -7 


75-9 


49-9 


72.8 


48.3 


673 


49-7 


70.4 


72.1 


90.0 


57-0 


60.1 


.S9-2 


72.8 


62.8 


85-.S 


53 -o 


70-3 


Si-i 


61.6 


40.0 


54-2 



46.6 
48.1 
49.0 
50.1 

48.7 

54-5 
t;o.o 
48.9 
52-1 
51-1 
.S3 -9 
68.1 
69.S 
7S.7 
71.0 
70.7 
70.2 

6l:3 

55-4 
55 -o 
4S.4 
48.4 
43 -o 

43-5 
50.1 
48.S 
53- r 
45-9 
55-3 
53-7 
60.2 

493 
50-3 

44-5 
48-3 
50.6 

75-7 
60.1 
61.3 
66.4 
52.2 
53-7 
43-9 



24-5 


44-3 


24.7 


45-2 


26.6 


4S.8 


26.2 


47-3 


24.7 


46.7 


31-4 


51-7 


26.0 


48.2 


27.0 


47 -o 


32.6 


51.6 


30.1 


.so. 7 


.33-9 


53-8 


51-7 


66.6 


54-9 


68.7 


71.9 


■ 77-5 


57-3 


70.3 


56.5 


69.9 


53-8 


69.4 


43-9 


61.7 


32.3 


.S4-5 


32-9 


S3-8 


28.8 


49.1 


25-3 


46.4 


21.8 


40.1 


18.3 


40.4 


26.0 


46.4 


25.9 


46.7 


26.3 


50.8 


16.1 


44.6 


l?,-'^^ 


.54 -.S 


29.6 


52.8 


32-4 


56.6 


23.0 


47-7 


31-1 


50.1 


32.1 




25-4 


48.2 


32.6 


49.1 


31.6 


150.6 


56.8 


73-6 


51-5 


572 


46.3 


.59 9 


49-3 


66.0 


,35-6 


52.8 


42.4 


52.2 


32.2 


42.6 



ANNUAL PRECIPITATION OF RAIN AT SEVERAL STA- 
TIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 

Compiled friiicipally frojn Blodgefs " Climatology." 



Stations. 



Toronto, Canada, 

Portland, Me.. 

Portsmouth, N. H., 

Cambridge, Mass., 

Amherst, " 

New York Citj 

Albany, N. Y., 

Rochester. " 

Philadelphia, Pa., 

Gettysburg, " 

Pittsburg, " 

Washington, D. C, ... 

Charleston. S. C, 

Vera Cruz, Mexico,. . . 

Pensacola. Flor., 

Mobile, Ala., 

New Orleans, La., 

Jackson, Miss., 

Fort Jessup, La., 

Fort Towson, I. T 

St. Louis, Mo., 

Cincinnati, O., , 

Hudson, " 

Ann Arbor, Mich., . . . .. 

Mackinac, " 

P'ort Brady, " 

Milwaukee, Wis., 

St. Paul, Minn., 

Fort Madison, Iowa,..., 
Fort Scott, Kansas,. . . .. 
Fort Leavenworth, " 
Fort Riley, " 

Fort Kearney, Neb., ... 
Fort Laramie, " . . . , 

Fort Union, Texas, 

El Paso, New Mexico,... 

Santa Fe, 

Fort Yuma Cal...... 

San Francisco, " 

Sacramento, " . . . . , 

Fort Miller. " 

Astoria, Oregon, , 

Steilacoom, Wash. Ter., 

Dalles of Columbia 

Sitka, Alaska., , 



SPRING. 


SUMMER. 


AUTUMN. 


WINTER. 


YEAR. 


7.16 


9-57 


10-33 


4.29 


31-35 


12. II 


10.28 


"■93 


10.93 


45-25 


9-03 


9.21 


8-95 


8.3S 


35^57 


10.85 


11.17 


12.57 


9.89 


44.48 


10.23 


11.84 


"•39 


9.70 


43.16 


"•55 


"•33 


10.30 


9-63 


42.23 


9-79 


12.31 


10.27 


8.30 


40.67 


6.62 


8.86 


9-38 


5-38 


30.44 


10.97 


12.45 


10.07 


io.o6 


43 -.se 


9-74 


10.20 


9-77 


9.10 


38.81 


9-38 


9.87 


8.23 


7.48 


34-96 


10.45 


10.1^2 


10.16 


11.07 


41.20 


8.60 


18.68 


11.61 


9-40 


48.29 


31.90 


116.S0 


51.40 


5-50 


183.20 


12.86 


18.69 


13-71 


11.72 


56.98 


14.24 


18.00 


13-91 


18.27 


64.42 


11.29 


17-28 


9.62 


12.71 


50.90 


10.90 


14.20 


9.50 


18.40 


53 -oo 


13.68 


10.94 


9-74 


11.49 


45-85 


15-55 


14-36 


12.23 


8.94 


51.08 


12.30 


14.14 


8.94 


. 6.94 


42.32 


12.14 


13-70 


9.90 


11.15 


46.S9 


9.76 


8.87 


6.16 


800 


32-79 


7-, 30 


11.20 


7.00 


3.10 


28.60 


4.67 


8.88 


7.01 


3-31 


23-87 


5-44 


9-97 


10.76 


5-i8 


31-35 


6.60 


9.70 


6.80 


420 


27.20 


6.61 


10.92 


5-98 


1.92 


25-43 


15-30 


15.90 


14-50 


4.70 


.50-50 


12.57 


16.37 


8.39 


4^79 


42.12 


7-97 


12.24 


7-33 


2^75 


30.29 


7.91 


7-15 


5^58 


1.26 


21.90 


10.80 


12.05 


3.82 


I-3I 


27.98 


8.69 


5-70 


3^96 


1.63 


19.98 


2-47 


9.62 


5.12 


2.03 


19.24 


0.70 


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5^25 


1.70 


11 21 


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6.02 


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19.83 


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0.86 


0,72 


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CHAPTER VII. 

CULTIVATED PLANTS. 

CONDITIONS OF CLIMATE AND SOIL, RESTRICTING THE RANGE 

OF PLANTS OF THE SOIL IN REFERENCE TO THE GROWTH 

OF PARTICULAR PLANTS MAIZE WHEAT OATS, RYE, 

AND BARLEY, NATIVES OF THE PLAINS OF CENTRAL ASIA 

RICE SUGAR-CANE SORGHUM POTATO COTTON 

TOBACCO GRASSES FOR PASTURAGE EXHAUSTION OF THE 

SOIL FACILITIES FOR CULTIVATION TABLES OF POPULA- 
TION AND PRODUCTION. 

Conditions of Climate and Soil. — The range 
of plants is dependent on two causes: — climatic 
conditions, such as temperature and moisture, and 
the chemical and mechanical composition of the 
soil. We have pointed out the extreme range of 
temperature which is characteristic of the climate 
of the Great Valley, as compared with that of 
Western Europe; we now propose to inquire into 
the effect of this range upon the growth of food- 
producing plants. 

The newly-arrived immigrant ma}^ be disposed to 
deprecate a climate so different from that to which 
he has been accustomed; but the experience of a 
H 



2IO CULTIVATED PLANTS. 

single year will convince him that it is to this 
extreme range, during the growing season, that we 
owe the cultivation of many of the kindly fruits of 
the earth, and of many of the plants most useful to 
man. The tropical element in our summers ena- 
bles the peach and apple to ripen, and the corn and 
tobacco-plant to mature, which they will not do in 
England, although the mean temperature of the 
year be considerably higher. Thus, the history of 
vegetation shows that a high temperature for a 
short season produces a different effect upon plants 
than a moderate temperature long continued. 

With regard to the conditions of soil, it may be 
said that its character is largely influenced by the 
subjacent formation. The different classes of rocks 
have a physiognomy as distinct as the features of 
the different races of men. The granites rise up 
in dome-shaped masses, or as pinnacles; the meta- 
morphic rocks stretch out in serrated ridges; the 
traps assume a precipitous or stair-like form; the 
volcanic cones are generally isolated; the lime- 
stones are often clift-like; the sandstones exhibit 
rounded outlines, except where undermined by 
running streams; while the shales of the slightly- 
metamorphosed strata, and the detrital materials of 
the Drift, are spread out, forming extensive plains 
or savannas. Now as the soil results from the 
abrasion or decomposition of these rocks, mingled 



DOMESTICATED PLANTS. 211 

with organic matter, it is not surprising that it 
should exhibit great diversity, and partake of the 
character of the underlying rock, both in chemical 
composition and mechanical texture. AVe thus 
speak of a soil as argillaceous, calcareous, arena- 
ceous, etc., as expressive of the source from which 
it has been derived. Each of these soils has its 
appropriate vegetable covering, and each contains 
certain elements adapted to the nourishment of 
peculiar plants. Its agricultural capacity is also 
undoubtedly influenced by the extreme state of 
subdivision in the particles, by which the rootlets 
of plants are enabled readily to appropriate such 
elements as are fitted for their growth. The 
cotton-plant shuns the sandy soil of the Tertiary, 
but thrives in the mellow loam of the Cretaceous; 
the sweet potato luxuriates in the dry, sandy plain, 
but shuns the damp clayey soil of the meadow; 
Indian corn grows best m the prairie-soils rich in 
nitrogen, with a period of sixty or ninety days of 
high temperature; while wheat flourishes best in a 
cooler climate and on a soil less fertile. 

Many of the useful plants, too, have improved by 
being transported from their habitats to a different 
climate. Cotton is a plant which grows, in the 
tropics, with a perennial growth, where it has a 
tree-like, woody stem. Transplanted to a temper- 
ate climate, it becomes a delicate annual, with an 



2 12 CULTIVATED PLANTS. 

herbaceous growth. Indian corn is of tropical 
origin, where it grows with a rank stock, and pro- 
duces little seed. Perhaps none of the cerealia 
show so great a susceptibility to adapt themselves 
to a modified climate, as this plant; for every few 
degrees of latitude exhibits a different variety. 
The potato has a still more diversified range, and 
is characterized by a still greater number of varie- 
ties. 

In the domestication of plants, then, as in that 
of animals, there is a strong tendency to run into 
varieties, resulting from altered conditions of tem- 
perature, soil, and moisture. The New World is 
indebted to the Old for many of the most useful 
and widely distributed plants, such as wheat, bar- 
le}', rice, and coffee; and many of the most luscious 
fruits, such as oranges, lemons, peaches, and apples. 
The sugar-cane is probably indigenous to the West 
Indian Isles. On the other hand, the New World 
has contributed to the Old, potatoes, which form so 
important an article of food; Indian corn, perhaps 
the most valuable of the cereals; and tobacco, now 
consumed the world over. It is proposed to give 
a brief sketch of the principal plants cultivated 
for the use of man in the Great Valley, and to 
inquire how far their cultivation, in each instance, 
is restricted by the conditions of soil and climate. 



CORN-CULTURE. 213 

Maize {^Zea mays). — Of all crops, where the 
conditions of soil and climate are favorable, there 
is none, with perhaps the exception of rice, which 
affords so great an amount of nutriment in propor- 
tion to the labor bestowed, as this. The cheap 
food derived from this source was the origin of the 
ancient Peruvian civilization, which enabled the 
surplus labor to be expended upon those immense 
structures which excited the admiration of the 
Spanish conquerors and all subsequent observers. 
So, too, we can trace the ancient Egyptian civiliza- 
tion to the abundance of the date, and that of India 
to the ease with which rice was grown, — the chief 
food of most people living within the tropics. 
Maize is emphatically the great food-producing 
plant of the Great Valley; not so much, perhaps, as 
contributing directly to human sustenance, as in 
those modified forms of beef, pork, etc., which 
constitute the bulk of the animal food of the people 
of the temperate zone. In a congenial climate, it 
is rarely cut off by drought, or frost, or blight. It 
can be harvested at leisure, as it receives no injury 
from exposure, whether cut or uncut. A man and 
boy can tend forty acres, besides devoting a portion 
of their time to other crops, which, with good 
management, may be made to yield from sixty to 
eighty bushels to the acre. This would give all 
the way from 2,400 to 4,800 bushels of grain; and 



2 14 CULTIVATED PLANTS. 

the yield would furnish rations to between 120 and 
240 able-bodied men for an entire year. The esti- 
mate of the western farmer is that, in feeding swine, 
every ten bushels of corn produces one hundred 
pounds of pork. 

The northern limit of corn-culture may be repre- 
sented by the summer isotherm 65°, which would 
exclude a considerable portion of Maine, the region 
north of the immediate Valley of the St. Lawrence, 
the Azoic region of Lake Superior, the higher 
slopes of the Rocky Mountains, and the immediate 
coast of the Pacific. It attains its full perfection 
in the region between the isotherms 72° and 77°, 
which would include the central and southern por- 
tions of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa, nearly all 
of Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, and Kansas, and 
the great plains north and south between the Cana- 
dian and the sources of the Missouri; but limited 
on the west by a line running east of Fort Laramie 
and west of Fort Atkinson. 

As to the conditions of moisture, it is probable 
that its limits would be restricted, except in the 
immediate valleys, to about longitude 100°. It is 
to the presence of the two elements, — a period of 
intense heat during the summer, and a virgin soil 
rich in nitrogen, — that the great geographical range 
of this plant in the United States is due; and to 



WHEAT-CULTURE. 215 

their absence in Western Europe, which has there 
rendered its cultivation unprofitable. 

Wheat. — There are two principal varieties 
recognized: — Triticum hibeniiciim., or winter 
wheat; and T. cEstivum, summer or spring wheat. 
The geographical range of these varieties is not 
coincident. Wheat requires a cooler climate 
and a less nitrogenized soil than corn, and has a 
wider geographical range. It is a reliable crop 
east of the Rocky Mountains, as far north as the 
Saskatchawan Valley, latitude 54°; and on the 
Pacific Slope as high as latitude 60°. Along the 
iianks of the Rocky Mountains, from British 
Columbia to the limits of Mexico, where sufRcient 
moisture can be obtained from the melting snows, 
it arrives at a perfection and development of grain 
unknown to the region east of the Mississippi; and 
the Californian Coast, cooled by the breezes of the 
Pacific, seems to be well adapted to its growth, and 
produces an amount far beyond the wants of its 
inhabitants. The tropical element in our climate 
so favorable to the growth of Indian corn, is unfa- 
vorable to the perfection of wheat. Winter wheat 
is not successfully cultivated in the immediate Val- 
ley of the Mississippi above the parallel 40°, for 
the reason that the plant is not sufhcientl}^ protected 
during the cold season by a permanent body of 



2l6 CULTIVATED PLANTS. 

snow, SO as to exclude the direct action of the air. 
Even if there was not a deficiency of snow, the 
prairies are so wind-swept that it seldom lies to a 
great depth, and the young wheat is liable to be 
winter-killed. In the partly-wooded regions of 
Southern Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri, where 
there is a clay subsoil of considerable tenacity, 
winter wheat is successfully cultivated. It is sown 
as early as the middle of September, so that it may 
ripen in the spring, before the hot suns of July 
strike it. The harvest-time is late in May or early 
in June. 

The great bulk of the wheat grown in the Mis- 
sissippi Valley is the spring or summer variet}^ It 
requires to be sown as soon as the frost leaves the 
ground, which should be prepared for its reception 
the preceding autumn. The danger to which this 
crop is. exposed, is the stimulating nature of the 
soil, producing a too rapid growth of the stalks, 
which causes the vesicles to burst, and at the same 
time prevents the ear from filling. Hence, the 
high rolling knolls are generally selected for its 
cultivation. The ingredient, lime, would consoli- 
date the stock, and check the tendency to a rank 
growth. Hence, I infer that the conditions of soil 
for the cultivation of this plant are highly favorable 
in Eastern Kansas and the Cherokee country, 
provided the conditions of climate — hot summer 



WHEAT-CULTURE. 217 

suns — are obviated by early sowing; and the 
reports as to the results of wheat-culture in that 
region, confirm these views. 

Minnesota, while not prolific in corn, is the best 
wheat-growing region in the Northwest; but, 
without exact knowledge, it is believed that in the 
region of Pembina and Assinaboin there is a belt 
of country, vast in extent, where this class of cere- 
alia can be successfully cultivated. * 

The finest specimens of wheat on exhibition in 
the Agricultural Bureau at Washington, are from 
New Mexico; and it would seem that the dr}- cli- 
mate which there prevails during the ripening of 
the plant, develops the grain at the expense of the 
stalk. Dr. Le Conte speaks of the yield of the 
Sonora wheat in the Purgatoire Valley as being 
eighty bushels to the acre. 

The irrigated region of Utah and Colorado pro- 

* Col. Whittlesey, who, as a practical geologist, has had a large 
experience in the Northwest, furnishes the following testimony, in a 
note to Captain Mullan : 

" In the fall of 1848, I was at Red Lake, in Northern Minnesota, 
when Mr. Ayres, a very intelligent missionary, came in from the Brit- 
ish Settlements on the Red River. lie brought some unbolted flour, 
from wheat grown on the banks of that river, at the Pembina Settle- 
ments. It was the sweetest and most nutritious flour I ever ate. He 
stated that the employes of the Hudson Bay Company had for a quar- 
ter of a century produced all the wheat needed; that it was a sure 
crop, the grain sound, and that it would yield forty bushels to the acre. 
The result of my examinations at that time, on our northern frontiers, 
was a conviction that the true wheat-growing region of the United 
States lies north of the St. Peter's River, and west of the Mississippi." 



2l8 CULTIVATED PLANTS. 

duces wheat of a far greater yield and of a far better 
quality than the most favored region of the prairie, 
the yield reaching sixty bushels to the acre. The 
Californian wheat, as we have before shown, is 
abundant in yield and excellent in quality. 

The best conditions, then, are a cool and rather 
dry climate, and a clayey soil, not too rich in nitro- 
gen, with the presence of lime. 

Oats^ Rye, and Barley. — These are hardier 
plants than wheat, and are successfully cultivated 
to the northern limits of the United States. Wheat, 
rye, and oats, are probably native to the dry plains 
of Central Asia, which as we have shown, partake 
in soil and climate of the character of the prairies, 
where they have been cultivated from the earliest 
historical period. Herodotus, the earliest of profane 
historians, describes the Scythian husbandmen as 
dwelling on the borders of the Black Sea, in the 
country extending on the south to Taurica (the 
Crimean Coast from Sevastopol to Kaffa) ; on the 
east to the Trench of the Blind Slaves (the mart 
of Palus Mserotis) called Cremni (the Clitics) ; and 
in part to the River Tanais, now the Don. * Thus 
it will appear that, in the provinces of Kherson, 
Kiev, and Ekaterinoslav, in the fifth century B. C, 

* " Herodotus," Book IV., Ch. i6, 20. 



BREAD-CORN. 



219 



the Scythians cultivated corn,* "not for their own 
use, but for sale." This trade was chiefl}^ carried 
on with the Greeks, and gradually extended to the 

* Corn is a generic term, comprehending the seeds of certain grasses 
which may be ground into meal, and fitted for the food of man or ani- 
mals. In the United States, the term "corn" is restricted to maize 
or Indian corn. 

"All bread corns are annual plants, and from that circumstance far 
better adapted for universal cultivation than if they had been peren- 
nials, or even biennials. An annual plant may indeed be said to 
belong to no country in particular, because it completes its existence 
during the summer months ; and in every part of the world there is a 
summer. Hence, w-e find the same corns ripening their seeds within 
the Frigid and Torrid Zones; and though the quality of the grain of 
barley and wheat grown in Lapland is far inferior to that grown in the 
south of Spain or on the plains of India, yet it is still such as to be 
made into wholesome bread and invigorating fermented liquor. Had 
the bread corns been perennials, they must necessarily have required 
to live through the winter in every country in which they are grown, 
as well as through the summer; and such of them as might have been 
adapted to the winters of cold climates, when taken to warm climates, 
have been so far weakened by being kept in a growing state through- 
out the year, as in a few years to have ceased to exist; while the peren- 
nials of warm climates, such as the south of Spain and Italy, could 
not have lived through a single winter in Russia or Lapland. For the 
same reason that they are annuals, and require little more than to be 
sown and reaped, bread-corns are in an especial manner the domestic 
plants of man in an early stage of civilization. A people like the 
wandering Arabs, who live in tents, and change their encampments 
annually or oftener, may conveniently reap their crops, raise their 
tents, and carry their seed-corn about with them, till they find a suita- 
ble spot where they can pitch their tents, and take their next crop. 
This, however, could not be done by a people who, in addition to corn 
and pulse, depend for the food of themselves and cattle, on the pro- 
duction of roots, such as the turnip and the potato; and these accord- 
ingly are plants characteristic of a settled people, in a higher degree 
of civilization and a greatly-advanced state of agriculture. The 
capacity of any country for growing corn, may be said to be according 
to the flatness of its surface, provided it be neither too hot nor too 
cold, too wet nor too dry; and hence the immense plains of Russia 
and Tartary are eminently calculated for raising food for man." 
(Brande's Dictionary, Art. " Corn.") 



2 20 CULTIVATED PLANTS. 

east of the limits assigned by Herodotus; and be- 
tween B. C. 400 and B. C. 300, the princes of the 
Bosphorus drew from the shores of the Sea of 
Azov and the Crimea, supplies to an enormous 
amount. 

According to Strabo, Leucon, who reigned 
from A. C. 393 to B. C. 353, sent on one occasion 
2,100,000 medimini (3,150,000 bushels) of corn to 
Athens, from the single port of Theodosia. Demos- 
thenes states that, of the whole foreign importation 
of grain into Attica, almost one-half came from the 
Euxine; and estimates its amount in ordinary years 
at 400,000 medimini, or 600,000 bushels. (" Orat. 
in Leptin.") * 

The fertility of the country and the habits of the 
people remain nearly the same as when Herodotus 
wrote. The trade of the Mediterranian ports with 
those of the Black Sea is nearly the same as was 
carried on twenty-three centuries ago; the Hylea 
still deserves the name of the "Woodland," and the 
multitudinous channels of the Dneiper still wind 
through the forests of oaks and poplars, seldom 
touched by the axe; while beyond, the Panticapes 
stretch out in treeless steppes, as in the days of old. 
The fertility of the soil is not renewed by a system 
of rotation of crops, or by the application of ma- 
nures; but when it shows signs of exhaustion, it 

* Rawlinson, Note to " Herodotus," B. IV., Ch. 17. 



CORN-TRADE OF ODESSA. 221 

is suffered to lie fallow until it reimbibes those 
elements from the atmosphere which have been 
abstracted, or creates a fresh supply of humus by 
the decay of its own vegetation. These facts have 
a significant bearing upon the ultimate productive- 
ness of our own prairies. They show that, while 
they may be deficient in the equably-distributed 
moisture essential to tree-growth, they possess 
superior advantages for the cultivation of the food- 
producing plants, and that these advantages remain 
constant. 

The modes of transportation to the markets of 
Odessa and Kertch, are such as formerly prevailed 
in Illinois and other Western States. The carts, 
laden with grain, move in long lines, like an army 
train, and the oxen at night are unyoked and 
allowed to feed upon the open plain. In modern 
times, the exports of wheat from Odessa in some 
years have reached nearly 7,500,000 bushels; and it 
is a singular fact that, while the flour in the Medi- 
terranean marts is esteemed above all others; in the 
EnMish market, when British wheat commands 
60s., wheat from this source only brings 525. The 
route between Liverpool and Odessa is circuitous, 
and quite as much time is consumed in making it 
as in crossing: the Atlantic. It is almost essential 
that the voyage be made in winter, as the sum- 
mer heats are almost sure to damage the wheat. 



2 22 CULTIVATED PLANTS. 

The expense of importing a quarter is from 165. 
to 185. The price free on board at Odessa consid- 
erably exceeds 405. per quarter. It is, therefore, 
evident that England can draw her supplies cheaper 
from other sources than this. * 

Rice ( Oryza sativd) is a plant of intertropical 
rancre, which heretofore has formed a large item in 
southern exports. It was introduced, according to 
McCulloch ("Com. Dictionary"), into the Caro- 
linas from Madagascar, late in the seventeenth 
century; and the thorough adaptation of the soil 
and climate to its growth, is evidenced by the fact 
that the Carolina rice commands a higher price in 
the English market than that grown in the Indies. 
This cereal constitutes the principal food of the 
inhabitants of a warm climate. It is the most 
nutritive of all the cerealia, and contains about 
eighty-five per cent, of starch. As, in a cold 
climate, a highly-nitrogenized food is required to 
replace the waste of the tissues; so, in a hot cli- 
mate, where that waste is less rapid, the system 
requires a food in which there is an excess of oxy- 
gen, — and rice and vegetables fill this requirement. 
The facility of irrigating the fields during the pro- 
gress of its growth, seems to be all-important; and 
hence it is, in those Oriental countries where, by 

* Vide " Encjclopsedia Brittanica," Art. " Wheat." 



RICE-CULTURE. 223 

chance, the annual flood of the rivers is withheld, 
the people are subject to deplorable famines. 

On the delta of the Mississippi, between New 
Orleans and Fort Jackson, rice is grown in small 
plantations, and its culture is said to be not 
unhealthy, for the reason that the water is not 
allowed to stagnate. The river begins to swell in 
February, and does not subside until June. In its 
overflow, it deposits a layer of sediment on its 
banks, leaving the clear water to flow into the 
swamps of the interior, and to find other channels 
to the ocean. This process, continued for ages, 
has raised its banks above the level of the sur- 
rounding country. 

Rice-culture is accomplished in this way: A 
sluice is cut through the river-bank, and the fields, 
being first enclosed in a levee, are flooded. The 
land is ploughed and sown in March, and as soon 
as the young plants appear, they are submerged in 
water, so regulated as to keep their heads just 
above the surface. When the grain has matured, 
the fields are laid dr}', and the crop is gathered; 
and the yield is from thirty to sixty bushels to the 
acre. 

These small plantations, before the Rebellion, 
were cultivated by white labor, and there is no 
reason why that culture may not be maintained. 
The rice-swamps along the Savannah River and 



2 24 CULTIVATED PLANTS. 

the Carolina coasts were formerly cultivated by 
slave-labor, and so unhealthy w^ere the}^, that they 
were regarded as the synonym of disease and death. 
The acclimated white man dreaded to be detained 
in the region over night, so sure and deadly were 
the effects of the miasmata, — effects clearly trace- 
able to the stagnant water. The rice product in 
i860, was in excess of 187,000,000 pounds, of which 
the Carolinas furnished the great bulk. 

Sugar- Cane ( Sacchanim officanantni) . — This 
is a tropical plant which has been domesticated on 
the verge of the Gulf Coast, and is so sensitive to 
frost that, if its juice becomes frozen, its saccharine 
matter will not crystallize into sugar. As it does 
not mature until October, and the frosts set in late 
in December, the whole labor of gathering, grind- 
ing, and boiling, is compressed within a space of 
sixty days, during which, under the system of 
compulsory labor which formerly prevailed, the 
strengrth and endurance of the slaves were tasked 
to the utmost. In Cuba, this plant is perennial; 
but in Louisiana, the crop is propagated by rat- 
toons, one-third of which is renewed each year. 
The rattoons consist of stock-cuttings, eighteen 
inches long, which are planted at a shallow depth. 
Shoots spring up from every joint, which are culti- 
vated like Indian corn. The plant grows to the 



SORGHUM-CULTURE. 225 

height of twelve feet or more, but about three feet 
of the upper portion are too watery to pay for 
crushing and evaporating. Sugar-culture has not 
extended farther north than the mouth of the Red 
River. Since the Rebellion, some of the estates 
have passed into the hands of northern men, who 
find no difficulty in securing all the labor which 
they require. The annual product of sugar for- 
merly exceeded 300,000 hogsheads of 1,000 pounds 
each, and 16,300,000 gallons of molasses. 

Soi'ghum saccharatum. — The immense con- 
sumption of sugar in the United States has led our 
farmers to attempt the domestication of this plant, 
to supply at least a portion of that consumption; 
and while, perhaps, it has not succeeded as a sugar- 
producing plant, it has repaid for the cultivation, in 
yielding a much-prized syrup. The sorghum is a 
native of China, while the imphee is a native of 
South Africa. The cultivation of both varieties 
can be maintained up to the isotherm 67°. Like 
corn, it requires a loose, deep soil, and one rich in 
nitrogen. The dry autumns of the West are favor- 
able to its culture, as the elaboration of the sac- 
charine principle is more effectually accomplished 
under such conditions than where the plant receives 
an excess of moisture. The product in syrup in 
15 



2 26 CULTIVATED PLANTS. 

i860, was in excess of 7,000,000 gallons, — grown, 
for the most part, in the Mississippi Valley. 

The Potato (^Solaniitm tub e^'O sunt). — The 
germ of this most useful of all vegetables was first 
found on the flanks of the Ancles, some 4,000 feet 
above the sea-level; and it is the most valuable 
contribution which America has made to the food- 
producing plants of the world. Its culture has 
extended to all the temperate climates; it forms 
the principal part of the food of many nations; and 
every table, — whether spread in the palaces of 
kings, or the cottages of the poor, — is incomplete 
without the presence of this esculent. It has even 
a wider geographical range than wheat; and, like 
that cereal, it has a tendency to run into varieties. 
It is cultivated in Bermuda, and as far north as 
Iceland. The short summers of Lake Superior, 
and even of Hudson's Bay, give to it a perfection 
which it does not acquire in the mild latitude of 
St. Louis or Southern Illinois. The potato degen- 
erates rapidly in a warm climate; and if the tubers 
are allowed to remain in the ground, they undergo 
a second germination, which is at the expense of 
their size and nutritive properties. Hence it is, 
that those regions lying south of the parallel 40°, 
derive their supplies for winter use from colder 
climates, while the stock in Bermuda is kept up 



i 



COTTON-CULTURE. 227 

by transmitting annually northern varieties, and 
cultivating them only during the winter season. 

Cotton {^Gossypiuni kerbaceuni). — The upland 
varieties have been cultivated nearly as far north 
as latitude 40°, but only under favorable circum- 
stances. Cotton-patches are to be seen in Southern 
Illinois and Southern Missouri, where the plant is 
grown for domestic use; and in many a family the 
hand-loom is yet in vogue. 

As a great commercial staple, however, its cul- 
ture embraces a belt of country 100 miles or more 
in width — underlaid by the Cretaceous formation — 
which starts near the northern line of the State of 
Mississippi, and, sweeping round the base of the 
Alleghanies through Alabama, Georgia, South 
Carolina, and North Carolina, extends as far north 
as Raleigh and even Richmond, Virginia. The 
southern limit of this belt is where it comes in con- 
tact with the region of Pine Barrens, whose soil 
consists of Pliocine-Tertiary sands. Its culture 
extends up the Mississippi to Memphis, and up the 
lower valleys of the White, Arkansas, and Red 
Rivers. 

The cotton-soils arc of moderate fertility, and 
when stripped of timber, are exceedingly liable to 
wash into gullies and ravines. After a few crop- 
pings, they are very difficult to renovate, since they 



2 28 CULTIVATED PLANTS. 

do not admit of a rotation of crops. The climate 
is unfit for the growth of the nutritious grasses, and 
hence, where the ground lies fallow for a few years 
to recover its productive powers, it ceases to be 
profitable. The grasses which spring up are coarse, 
and afford little nutriment to cattle. The forage of 
the planter is derived from corn-stalks, cut before 
maturity; and hence, throughout the region, we 
find no herds of cattle or swine, nor can any course 
of industry render stock-raising profitable. For- 
merly the shipments of breadstuffs and provisions 
from the North into this region were enormous, — 
sufficient almost to sustain the entire population. 
This interchange of products was found to be 
profitable to both sections, the labor of each being 
applied to the cultivation of those plants requiring 
a peculiar soil and climate for their full develop- 
ment. The Rebellion operated as an effectual bar 
to all interchange; and since the restoration, the 
South, owing to her disorganized industry, rendered 
more deplorable by successive failures of crops, has 
not established to the full extent, those ties of com- 
mercial intercourse which formerly prevailed; and, 
in the absence of credit, has been forced to devote 
a portion of her labor, under disadvantageous cir- 
cumstances, to the cultivation of those crops which 
are absolutely essential to the support of human 



COTTON-CULTURE. 229 

life. Let us hope that this state of affairs is not 
long to continue. 

The sea-island variety is restricted to the islands 
and a narrow belt on the immediate coast of the 
Atlantic, extending from the Great Pedee River, in 
North Carolina, to Cape Canaverel, in Florida. It 
has a length and strength of fibre unequaled, and 
is therefore well adapted to thread or spool-cotton. 
These qualities give it a commercial value five or 
six times greater than that of ordinary upland cot- 
ton. 

So far as relates to the sanitary conditions of soil 
and climate, there is nothing to prevent the cultiva- 
tion of this plant by free labor; but it is doubtful 
whether this crop will recover the commercial 
importance which it enjoyed before the outbreak 
the Rebellion; since the effect of that act was to 
divert European capital, which was formerly 
employed in moving this crop, to opening new 
sources of supply, and abstracting a portion of 
Oriental labor from its accustomed channels. The 
product of cotton in i860, was in excess of 5,000,000 
bales, and showed an increase of more than loo 
per cent, in ten 3-ears. 

It is only within the last century, that cotton- 
manufacture became so important a branch of 
national industr}-; and this importance is due to 
the inventions and discoveries of a few men in the 



230 CULTIVATED PLANTS. 

United States and Great Britain. Owing to the 
difficulty of separating the fibre fi-om the seed by 
hand, the hibor was great, and the price was so 
hiofh, that cotton would never have come into 
general use; but this difficulty was obviated by 
Whitney, in the invention of the cotton-gin. The 
invention of the jenny, by Hargreaves, enabled one 
person to spin one hundred and twenty threads, in 
the same time that a single thread could be spun 
by the methods before in use; and the subsequent 
inventions of the spinning-frame by Arkwright, 
and of the power-loom by Cartwright, may be 
regarded as arnon^ the grreatest achievements of 
inventive genius, which have conferred the most 
lasting blessings on the race, giving employment 
to many millions of people, affi^rding cheap clothing 
to all, and forming a principal item in the commerce 
and industry of more than one nation. 

Tobacco {Nicotiania tabacuni). — This plant is 
indigenous to America, and to Sir Francis Drake 
and Sir Walter Raleigh is ascribed the honor of 
having first introduced it into England, more than 
three centuries ago. Perhaps there is no habit 
which has taken so strong a hold upon mankind, as 
the use of this weed, nor one which, when acquired, 
is so difficult to eradicate. It is smoked " from 
Indus to the Pole," alike by civilized and savage 



TOBACCO-CULTURE. 23 1 

races, and by men in every walk of life. Its cul- 
ture, too, has extended from America to every part 
of the civilized world, where the conditions of soil 
and climate are favorable to its growth. It was in 
universal use among the Indians when this country 
was first known to the European; and from the 
pipes found in the mounds, it is evident that that 
mysterious race who built them, knew its virtues, — 
or rather, perhaps, its vices. 

Tobacco requires a warm, light, silicious soil to 
develop its peculiar aroma in all of its perfection. 
Where grown on an argillaceous soil, or one rich 
in organic matter, the leaf is rankly developed, and 
is lacking in the finer qualities. Tobacco-culture 
is carried on as far north as the Connecticut Valley, 
and south to the tropics; but here it becomes neces- 
sary to cultivate it only during the winter, as the 
summer heats and rains are unfavorable to its pro- 
fection. The States of Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, 
Indiana, and Ohio, are far better adapted to its cul- 
ture than those bordering on the Gulf Of the 
entire product of the United States, in i860, — a 
little more than four and one-fourth million 
pounds, — these five States furnished about two 
hundred and seventy-three and one-half millions. 

Grasses for Pasturage. — The natural grasses 
of the prairies east of the Mississippi, do not put 



232 CULTIVATED PLANTS. 

forth their leaves until May, and they wither in 
August. The treading and cropping of the turf by 
cattle, cause them at first to become thin, and then 
die out. They are supplanted by white clover 
which in turn is rooted out by the Kentucky blue- 
grass (^Poa compressd). The latter is destined to 
become the most valuable grass of the prairies. It 
bears the heat of the summers, and affords a rich 
pasturage in the winters. A rapid change is going 
on in the cultivated prairie. The native grasses 
are retreating before the cultivated grasses, as the 
Red man retreats before the White man. Wher- 
ever a wagon-track is made or a path beaten, the 
white clover comes in; wherever a tract is appro- 
priated to pasturage, the blue-grass becomes domi- 
nant. 

The English grasses, as a general thing, do not 
flourish, for they are adapted to a moist and cool 
climate. Timothy, however, once rooted, main- 
tains its ground, and remains green from May to 
December. The yield in hay is not as great as in 
the meadows of New England. 

West of the Mississippi, agriculture is too new 
to have solved the question of what grasses are 
best for cultivation. The Western Plains, as we 
have before remarked, contain several species of 
bunch-grass, which are highly nutritious, grow in 



GRASSES FOR PASTURAGE. 233 

an arid climate, and are self-curing. Fremont 
remarks that: 

" The grazing capabilities of this region are great, and in 
the indigenous grasses an element of individual and national 
wealth may be found. In fact, the valuable grasses begin 
within one hundred and fifty miles of the Missouri frontier, 
and extend to the Pacific Ocean. East of the Rocky Moun- 
tains, it is the short, curly grass on wiiich the buftldo delight to 
feed (whence its name of bti^alo grass) ^ and which is still 
good wlien dry and apparently dead. West of the mountains, 
it is a larger growth, in clusters, and hence called bunch grass. 
This has a second or fall growth. Plains and mountains both 
exhibit them, and I have seen good pasturage at an elevation 
of ten thousand feet. It is upon this spontaneous product, the 
trading or traveling caravans can find subsistence for their ani- 
mals ; and in military operations, any number of cavalry may 
be moved, and any nimiber of cattle may be driven ; and thus 
men and horses supported on long expeditions, and even in the 
winter, in the sheltered situations." * 

Governor Bross, who has traversed the western 
region extensively, in a late communication to the 
Chicago Academy of Natural Sciences, described 
the agricultural capacities of Colorado as being 
very great, and so rapidly developing that the peo- 
ple would soon be independent of supplies from the 

* " Report of Exploring Expedition." 

Note. — " Captain Croft, U. S. A., recognizes four principal varieties 
of gratjses in Arizona : i. Lowland Grama (/-*/<:' «;'(///<;57«;«t>5//), which 
grows in great profusion in tlie Valley of the Gila. 2. Highland 
Grama {Aristicia purpurea), growing on the sandy ' mesas.' 3. Black 
Grama {^JMuhlcnbergia puvgciis), growing on the highlands, in sandy, 
arid soil. 4. Sporobolus airoidcs, growing in the valleys. (" Proc. 
Cal. Acad, of Natural Science," 1S65.) 



234 CULTIVATED PLANTS. 

Mississippi Valley, and even compete in the pro- 
vision-market of the world. He described the 
cattle as superb in form, and clean in limb; and 
anticipated the time when herds would be driven 
eastward, moving afoot by easy stages, and grazing 
on the rich grasses of the prairies, until they were 
brought within the lines of railroad transportation. 
There is no doubt that, while much of the region 
between the Missouri and the base of the Moun- 
tains, is not adapted to agriculture, it will afford an 
almost unlimited range of pasturage. 

Exhaustion of the Soil. — Rich as are the prairie- 
soils in organic matter, they are treated as though 
inexhaustible. The products, so far as relate to 
corn and wheat, are for the most part exported to 
distant regions, where, after entering into the ani- 
mal economy, they recombine, and contribute to 
fertilize the soil. Even the exuviae of the cattle 
and the straw of the grain, are allowed to accumu- 
late in heaps, and rot on the ground, without any 
attempt on the part of the farmer to restore them 
to the sources from which they have been derived. 
Thus, each year the farmers of the Northwest are 
sending otf millions of tons of organic matter, in a 
highly concentrated form, — impoverishing their 
own fields to enrich those of distant regions. Such 
a drain upon the fertility of the soil, though appar- 



FACILITIES FOR CULTIVATION. 235 

ently imperceptible now, will ultimately manifest 
itself in diminished production, and will involve the 
necessity of adding organic matter to the soil, or 
of allowing^ it to remain fallow until it shall have 
reimbibed, from the decay of its own vegetation, or 
from the elements of the circumambient air, those 
principles which have been abstracted. 

Nature, under almost every condition of soil and 
climate, exhibits a self-perpetuating power whereby 
to renew the youth and fertility of our planet. In 
the absorption of the gasses, whether arising from 
the decay of vegetation, or the volume of smoke 
poured out from the multitudinous chimneys of 
densely-populous cities — which, under other cir- 
cumstances, would prove destructive to life, — and 
in their conversion into ligneous fibre or into food- 
producing seeds, she evinces a providence which 
ought to be appreciated by every one who, with an 
inquiring spirit, investigates her laws. 

If man, therefore, like an honest debtor, will 
only restore what he abstracts, over and above the 
requirements of self-support, he will find that she 
is not an all-remorseless creditor, but a kind and 
beneficent parent. 

Facilities for Cultivation. — Perhaps there is 
no reunion of the world where the facilities for cul- 
vation, and for the conversion of the natural surface 



236 CULTIVATED PLANTS. 

into productive fields, are so great as on the western 
prairies; and hence their rapid development in agri- 
cultural resources. To subdue a primeval forest 
and render the ground fit for cultivation, is a Hercu- 
lean task; and it requires the lapse of a generation 
before the fields, by a removal of the stumps and 
trunks, become entirely fit for the plough. Inter- 
communication is confined to highways cut out at 
rare intervals; trees are felled or girdled, and aban- 
doned to fire or spontaneous decay. Hence, the 
settlement of a wooded country has been attended 
with an immense destruction of the forest, without 
having subserved any useful purpose. While it 
has required nearl}' two and one-half centuries to 
subdue and bring under cultivation the Atlantic 
Slope of the United States, a greater area in the 
Upper Valley of the Mississippi has been subdued, 
producing ampler supplies of human food, and sus- 
taining a larger population, within the memory of 
men yet living. 

This wonderful change has been wrought out by 
the inventive genius of an illiterate Northumbrian 
coal-miner, George Stephenson. When he con- 
ceived and brought out the locomotive known as 
the "Rocket," — one among the few inventions 
that ever originated complete in all its parts, from 
the brain of the inventor, — he conferred an inesti- 
mable boon upon mankind, before which the labors 



RAILROAD FACILITIES. 237 

of the most successful statesmen, or the achieve- 
ments of the most renowned warriors, stand 
dwarfed. So far as relates to our own country, 
he placed in our hands a power by which to subdue 
a continent and revolutionize the trade of the world. 
Up to the time of the introduction of railways, the 
prairies repelled settlement. The difficulty of pro- 
curing materials for construction, such as wood and 
stone, restricted the immigrant to the borders of 
some timbered belt, while the prairie spi'cad out 
before him, an almost illimitable waste. When the 
lines of improved communication had crossed the 
Alleghanies, it was found that the prairies were the 
appropriate field for the development of the railroad 
system. Their topographical features were such 
that almost air-lines could be constructed between 
given points, and at an expense which bore no pro- 
portion to that through the wooded or mountainous 
regions of the Atlantic Slope. Settlement followed 
along these lines, and as fast as villages sprang up 
at the stations, a rural population also sprang up to 
sustain them. It was found, too, that, with the great 
forest-belts at the north, adjacent to the shores of 
the Lakes and lining the tributaries of the Upper 
Mississippi, Nature had dealt kindly with man in 
spreading out these vast, grassy plains, — more so, 
even, than if she had robed them with forests; for 
it was far easier for the settler to draw his supplies 



238 CULTIVATED PLANTS. 

of lumber from this source to fence his farm ah^eady 
prepared for the plough, than to doom the forests 
to indiscriminate destruction, as had been done in 
Ohio and Western New York, preliminary to culti- 
vation. 

No where on the continent Is a farm so easily 
subdued, and no where are the processes of agri- 
culture performed with so slight an expenditure of 
human strength. The spade and the hoe are seldom 
resorted to, and the furrow is formed by the plough. 
Planting, sowing, reaping, raking, binding, thresh- 
ing, shelling, — all are mainly done b3MTiachinery; — 
processes which in many regions are impracticable 
b}' reason of the inequality of the soil, the presence 
of stumps, rocks, and other impediments. 

The older States of the Mississippi Valley are 
now intersected by a net-work of railways. Their 
effects are seen in a rapid development of the agri- 
tural capabilities of the regions they traverse; in an 
enormous increase of internal commerce; in an 
active intercourse' between widely-separated points; 
in the spread of civilization; and in the mingling of 
discordant characters, arising from local prejudices 
or ancestral traditions, into a harmonious whole. 

The appended tables, compiled from the Census 
Returns of the United States, exhibit the progress 
of population, as well as of agriculture, in the 
States of the Upper Mississippi Valley, showing an 



AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS. 239 

increase, — unparalleled in other portions of the 
earth, — of two-fold, during each decade of ten 
years. Comparing the whole superficies of these 
States, 525,301 square miles, with the area culti- 
vated, it will be seen that only about i8 per cent. 
has been devoted to agriculture. 

The product of cereals in the eight food-pro- 
ducing States for the year 1859, based on a crop 
which was nearly one-third deficient, exceeded 
550,000,000 bushels. 

To convey an adequate idea of the motive power 
required to distribute this prodigious mass, in its 
crude state, it may be stated that it would employ 
more than 64,400 locomotives, each hauling 8,500 
bushels; and, if required to deposit their freight at 
a given depot, a train must arrive oftener than once 
in seven minutes, by day and by night, throughout 
every working da}^ of the year. 

After feeding the existing population of those 
States, there remained a surplus of more than 
500,000,000 of bushels, to be used as seed for 
future crops, as food for the domestic animals, and 
for exportation, either in a crude state, or in a con- 
centrated form, as beef, pork, lard, oil, whisk}', etc. 

The amount of cereals which, in 1862, flowed out 
of the lake-region to the seaboard, was in excess 
of 136,000,000 bushels; since which time it has 
greatly augmented. 



240 








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CHAPTER VIII. 

GEOLOGY IGNEOUS AND METAMORPHIC 

ROCKS. 

GEOLOGICAL STRUCTURE OF THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY TABU- 
LAR VIEW OF THE DIFFERENT FORMATIONS RANGE OF 

ORGANIC LIFE IGNEOUS ROCKS OF DIFFERENT AGE SYS- 
TEMS OF ELEVATION OF MOUNTAIN-CHAINS THE LAKE 

SUPERIOR SYSTEM THE PRIMEVAL CONTINENT THE 

APPALACHIAN SYSTEM THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN SYSTEM 

THE PACIFIC COAST RANGES IGNEOUS PRODUCTS RIVER 

SYSTEMS THE AZOIC SYSTEM, ASSOCIATED WITH IRON 

ORES IRON-REGION OF LAKE SUPERIOR OF MISSOURI 

THE MYTHOLOGICAL AGE OF METALS THE PRESENT, THE 

IRON AGE ANNUAL PRODUCT OF THE WORLD. 

Geological Structure. — If, from an elevated posi- 
tion, an observer were enabled to comprehend in a 
bird's-eye view the entire structure of the Missis- 
sippi Valley, he would find that it was rimmed on 
three sides by granitic or highly metamorphic 
rocks; and that these rocks, while aftbrding abund- 
ant evidences of having originated from the action 
of direct or transmitted heat, have at many points 
been invaded by products of a purely volcanic 
origin. He would further find that the basin had 



GEOLOGICAL STRUCTURE. 243 

been filled in with rocks of a far different charac- 
ter, reposing for the most part in nearly horizontal 
strata, and little metamorphosed by heat, — such as 
limestones, sandstones, shales, and loose, detrital 
materials, the whole forming an assemblage many 
thousand feet in thickness. Descending from his 
elevated position, and examining the individual 
groups critically, he would find that, while the 
granitic, the metamorphic, and volcanic rocks 
afforded no traces of organic life, the sedimentary 
rocks were stored with numerous forms as delicate 
or massive in structure, as any that now tenant the 
earth or sea. He would further find that they 
differed not only from existing forms, but among 
themselves, and that there was a corresponding 
order of succession in the strata wherein they had 
been entombed; and from the constancy of this 
order, he would be justified in inferring that they 
appeared upon the earth at different intervals, and 
that those intervals comprehended long periods of 
time. Now, as this order is never reversed, these 
fossils have come to be regarded as land-marks in 
the physical history of our planet, — as so many 
"medals, struck by nature to commemorate her 
revolutions." Extending his researches to vegeta- 
ble forms, he finds that the same diversity and the 
same order of succession prevail. 



244 GEOLOGY. 

Directinof his attention to those substances useful 
to man, he finds stored in the granitic, volcanic, and 
metamorphic rocks, the precious metals — gold and 
silver, — and the baser metals — copper, tin, zinc, 
mercury, lead, iron, etc., — sometimes segregated 
in veins, and at others in beds or sheets, incorpo- 
rated with the strata. 

In the limestones, sandstones, and shales, which 
show slight signs of igneous action, while he notes 
the absence of the precious metals, he finds the 
more useful ores, such as iron, lead, and zinc. In 
addition to these, he finds at various intervals, and 
stretching over vast areas, immense deposits of 
fossil fuel, stored away at accessible depths, and 
in positions protected from combustion and decay, 
to supply the wants and conveniences of man 
throughout all time. 

When he examines the superficial materials, 
he finds that they repose on rocks which have 
been grooved and striated, and the removed 
parts ground up into an almost impalpable pow- 
der; but when he reflects that this impalpable 
powder forms the soil which supports the infinite 
variety of vegetation that clothes the earth and 
constitutes the food, directly or indirectly, of 
every living form that moves upon its surface or 
sports in its waters, and how slow would have 
been its accumulation if left to mere atmospheric 



ORGANIC REMAINS. 245 

changes, he is led to the irresistible conclusion 
that these are the results of a manifest design. 

To investigate the structure of the globe, and 
the revolutions which its surface has undergone; 
to trace the succession of animal and vegetable 
life; to determine the conditions under which 
the precious metals and the useful ores are 
found; and to bring forth from hidden depths 
those materials which minister to the conveniences 
of man, is the province of geology. 

Geologists, then, guided by the succession of 
organic remains and the superposition of the 
strata, have become satisfied that the earth did 
not come from the hands of the Creator as we 
now behold it; but that it acquired its present 
configuration after repeated revolutions, embrac- 
ing the lapse of long periods of time, during 
which distinct races of living organisms were 
introduced, flourished, and died, and their remains 
became entombed in the rocks; from many of 
which we build our temples and dwellings, and 
out of which even we carve our monuments, — 
thus using the sepulchres of extinct races to per- 
petuate the remembrance of our own. The very 
dust we tread upon was once instinct with life. 

The following classification may be adopted as 
embracing the most conspicuous groups of rocks 
in the Great Valley: 



246 



GEOLOGY. 



Tabular View 

OF THE 

PRINCIPAL FOSSILIFEROUS STRATA of the MISSISSIPPI VALLEY 
AND PACIFIC SLOPE, 



1. RECENT. 

2. LOESS OR BLUFF. 

3. RIVER TERRACES. 

4. DRIFT OR BOULDER GROUP. 

. LOUP-RIVER GROUP. 



WHITE-RIVER GROUP. 
WIND-RIVER GROUP. 

FORT UNION, OR GREAT LIGNITE GROUP. 
VICKSBURGH GROUP. 

FOX-HILL GROUP. 
FORT PIERRE GROUP. 
FORT BENTON GROUP. 
DAKOTA GROUP. 

AURIFEROUS SLATES OF CALIFORNIA. 
LAMINATED MARLS OF BLACK HILLS. 
VARIEGATED MARLS OF COLORADO? 
VAKIEGATED MARLS OF KANSAS? 



iS FORT KILEY GROUP, KANSAS, 

19. COAL-MEASURES. 

20. CHESTER LIMESTONE. 

21. ST. LOUIS GROUP. 

22. KEOKUK GROUP. 

23. BURLINGTON LIMESTONE. 

24. KINDERHOOK GROUP. 

25. HAMILTON SLATES. 

26. CONIFEROUS LIMESTONE. 

27. ORISKANY SANDSTONE. 

28. SALINA LIMESTONE. 

29. NIAGARA LIMESTONE. 

30. CINCINNATI BLUE LIMESTONE. 

31. GALENA LIMESTONE. 

32. TRENTON LIMESTONE. 

33. ST. PETER'S SANDSTONE. 

34. LOWER MAGNESIAN LIMESTONE. 

35. POTSDAM SANDSTONE. 



POST-TERTIARY. 

PLIOCENE. 

MIOCENE. 

EOCINE. 
CRETACEOUS. 



JURASSIC 

AND 

TRIASSIC. 



PERMIAN. 



CARBONIFEROUS. 



DEVONIAN. 



UPPER SILURIAN. 



LOWER SILURIAN. 



o 

O 

w 






\^. > 



RANGE OF FOSSILS. 247 

While each of these groups has its character- 
istic fossils, by which it can be identified over 
widely-separated areas, yet there are two infer- 
ences, erroneous in their results, which the 
geological student might draw without further 
examination. 

I. He must not infer that these groups envelope 
a considerable part of the earth like the coats of 
an onion, for at no point do they present an 
unbroken succession of comforming strata. There 
exist gaps, indicating that while aqueous causes 
vvere active in one region in accumulating strata, 
they were dormant at another; but this fact is 
unquestioned, — the order of succession is never 
reversed. 

And 2. That while the age of a group is 
determined by the assemblage of fossils, they are 
not in all instances restricted to a particular zone 
of life, but certain specific forms are found to 
rano^e throuo-h several distinct formations. In 
such cases, they generally appear as varieties; as 
thousfh the surroundins: conditions had so far 
changed as to produce variations in their form 
and character.* While the extremes differ in 



* Take, for instance, that subdivision of the MoHusks known as 
Brachiopods (animals with arm-like fcef), which comprehends the 
four genera : Rhychofiella., Cra?iia, Discina, a7id I^ing'ula. Davidson, 
the most eminent of English palteontologists, after an exhaustive 
investigation of the Brachiopods of the British Isles, finds that all of 



248 GEOLOGY. 

these particulars, there is a series of gradations, 
the result of altered conditions of habitat, which 
link them together. 

As it is not my purpose to refer, except inci- 
dentally, to the fossil fauna which characterize 
the several groups of strata, I will simply remark 
that, in the order of creation, there appears to 
have been a progressive development, from the 
simplest organic structures in the oldest forma- 
tions, to the highest type of being represented in 
the latest creation, — man. According to the exist- 
ing knowledge, the Vertebrates, represented by 
the fishes, first appear in the Upper Silurian; the 
Reptiles in the Sub-carboniferous (the Sauropus 



these genera appear in the Silurian, and are continued through all the 
subsequent formations up to the present time, persistent in form and 
character; while other genera have a less diversified range, and 
exhibit wide deviations from the primitive type. Thus the common 
fossil, Atrypa unguiciilaris, appears in the Devonian, is continued in 
the Carboniferous, where it is known as Spirifer uril^ and is still 
continued in the Permian, where it is known as ^S. clnii9iya9ius. 
Whether what are known as species are independent creations, and so 
long as they continue to exist, preserve a fixedness of character; or 
whether thej are capable of varying indefinitely from an original 
type, dependent on altered conditions of climate, food, etc., are ques- 
tions upon which naturalists are divided. In the breeding of domesti- 
cated animals, we certainly see a strong tendency to run into varieties ; 
on the other hand, we find certain living species of MoUusks which 
are identical with the fossil forms entombed in the Tertiaries ; thus 
showing that these forms must have remained constant through 
millions of years. But in reply to this objection, the believer in the 
transmutation of species might say that the physical conditions, such 
as the temperature and saltness of the water, depth of the ocean, etc., 
had remained constant, and that, therefore, we had no right to expect 
a deviation from pristine types. 



IGNEOUS ROCKS. 1 {.9 

■primcBViis of Lee) ; the Mammalia, represeni.ed 
by a marsupial or pouched animal, like the opos- 
sum of America, in the Upper Oolite; and some 
small quadrupeds not clearly made out, in the 
Upper Trias; traces of birds are detected in the 
Upper Oolite {^Archceopteryx macncrics), in the 
lithographic limestone near Solenhofen, Bavaria; 
and last, the evidences of man occur in the Post- 
Pliocine, if not in the Pliocine itself. 

Igneous Rocks. — When w^e examine the igneous 
rocks of this region, w^e find that, like the fossilif- 
erous strata, they are not all of the same age. For 
instance, if, as on the shores of Lake Superior, we 
find the Potsdam sandstone abutting against a 
great boss of granite, w^ith all of its projections 
w^orn otT, — like rocks at the present day on the 
sea-shore exposed to the action of a heavy surf, — 
while the sandstone reposes in horizontal beds, and 
shows few signs of metamorphism, we infer, and 
justly too, that the granite was upheaved and 
assumed its present relative position before the 
deposition of the sandstone. 

If, on the other hand, we go to the Rocky Moun- 
tains, and observe granite in the form of domes or 
crests, constituting mountain masses, flanked by 
Triassic strata reclining at a high angle; and if we 
find that, where such contact takes place, sandstone 



250 GEOLOGY. 

is metamorphosed into quartz, shale into gneiss, and 
limestone into marble, we infer that the granite has 
been protruded through the yielding strata, and 
that this change in the sedimentary rocks, is due 
to the action of direct or transmitted heat. As this 
is the usual form in which granite appears, and 
never in the form of a lava-overflow, it is inferred 
that it is not a volcanic product, but that it was 
elevated in a pasty condition, and under circum- 
stances which permitted it to assume a crystalline 
form. 

We also observe another class of rocks, occupy- 
ing narrow apertures in the pre-existing strata in 
the form of dykes, or diffused over the surface, 
sometimes in aspect compact and close-grained, 
at others glassy or scoriaceous. These rocks inter- 
mingle with the fossiliferous strata of all ages, and 
resemble so much the product of modern volcanoes 
that geologists have not hesitated to ascribe their 
origin to this source. 

Systems of Elevation. — It has been found, too, 
that the structural features of the earth — the out- 
lines of continents and the shore-lines of the ocean 
— have been mainly determined by the upheaval 
of these crystalline rocks. These again have 
influenced the destinies of the human race, in the 
migrations of men, in the distribution of languages, 



SYSTEMS OF ELEVATION. 25 1 

and in the modification of climate. Hence, then^ 
the study of mountain chains, their range and extent, 
is one of absorbing interest. They form the grand- 
est and most imperishable record of the great cycle 
of events through which the earth has passed. 

It has been found, too, as first observed by 
Steensen, and subsequently elaborated in the com- 
prehensive work of Elie de Beaumont, that the 
great lines of fracture and uplift, instead of being 
fortuitous, pursue certain determinate lines of 
direction, conforming to the great circle of the 
earth; and that, instead of a single line of fracture 
and uplift, there are parallel lines which appear to 
have been formed simultaneously over vast areas 
of the earth's surface. Mountain chains of different 
ages intersect one another at different angles; and 
thus, while to the superficial observer, such an 
assemblage as the Rocky Mountains, the Alps, 
the Himala3'as, or the Caucasus, may appear as a 
confused and discordant mass, yet by patient study 
of the strata which repose on their flanks, the 
geologist may determine the several systems of 
upheaval, and evoke order out of apparent confu- 
sion. 

While the outlines, then, of continents have 
been determined by mountain chains, the result 
of paroxysmal action, the area of continents has 
been determined in many instances by the gradual 



252 GEOLOGY. 

oscillations of the crust, such as are now taking 
place over the northern portion of the hemisphere. 
That these oscillations have been going on during 
the whole progress of the earth's history admits 
of no doubt; for, e. g., in the strata of the Coal- 
Measures, and of the Cretaceous, we meet with 
repeated alternations of marine and terrestrial life; 
and in the Tertiaries, we see that fresh and salt- 
water have alternately held dominion over the sur- 
face. The Drift-terraces and ancient sea-beaches, 
high above the present water-level, point to the 
same conclusion. The earth, therefore, to the 
geologist, is not an emblem of stability. He sees, 
in the displacement and plication of the strata, that 
its foundations have been repeatedly broken up, 
and that its crust is but an oscillating mass. 

It is customary to speak of the elevation of 
mountain chains, as though it were a bodily lifting 
up of the strata, by a force operating directly from 
beneath; but in this respect the term is misap- 
plied. If we suppose that the earth was once 
in a fluid state, and that the present condition of its 
surface is due to a process of refrigeration, there 
must have been a time when a solid crust was 
formed, composed wholly of cr3^stalline rocks. As 
the process of refrigeration went on, the earth's 
sphere would gradually contract to accommodate 
itself to the diminished nucleus. Such contraction 



OUTLINES OF CONTINENTS. 253 

would be attended with ruptures of the crust, which 
would pursue certain determinate lines, represented 
by mountain chains ; so that the word elevation^ as 
applied to mountain ranges, really means stibsid- 
ence. If the interior of the earth is an incandescent 
mass, as is supposed, the pasty matter would rise 
up and fill the fissures thus created, and appear 
under the form of granite; or if this matter were 
in a fluid condition, it would appear under the 
form of porphyry, basalt, trap, etc., filling pre- 
existing fissures in the crust as dykes, or flowing 
over the surface in long lines like lava-currents. 
Earthquake and volcanic action belong to this class 
of phenomena, and the reason why their manifesta- 
tion is less striking now than at former periods, is, 
that the earth is supposed to have arrived at that 
stage when the radiation of heat into space is about 
equal to that received from the sun. 

No American ph3'sicist, perhaps, has investigated 
the structural relations of continents so thoroughly 
and so ably as Dana. He has brought to bear 
upon this subject extensive observation, made in 
various parts of the world, united to close analyti- 
cal reasoning; and the conclusions in which such a 
mind rests are entitled to all respect. He recog- 
nizes two great systems or trends applicable to the 
whole world : — A north-western and a noi^theastern, 
transverse to one another; and he claims that the 



254 GEOLOGY. 

islands of oceans, the outlines and reliefs of con- 
tinents, and the oceanic basins themselves, alike 
exemplify these systems. 

In the application of these principles, it may be 
said that there are three grand systems of upheaval, 
different in age and direction, which have deter- 
mined the structural features of the Mississippi 
Valley, viz.: 

I. The Lake Su-perior System^ — v^hich ranges 
N. 80° E., S. 80° W., from Labrabor to the sources 
of the Mississippi: northward it extends to near 
the shores of the Arctic Sea. The rocks composing 
this system consist of granites, traps, and porphy- 
ries, undoubtedly of igneous origin; together with 
quartzites, marbles, and chlorite and talcose schists, 
of aqueous origin, — the whole highly metamor- 
phosed. On both sides of the axis, the Silurian 
groups are found resting uncomformably. This, 
as we long ago pointed out, is the oldest system in 
America, forming, as it were, the Primeval Conti- 
nent, which stretched east and west in a low, 
narrow belt, from the sources of the Mississippi to 
Labrador; and north and south, from the northern 
borders of Michigan to the Arctic Sea. Its culmi- 
nating points no where attained an elevation of 
more than 2,000 feet above the old Silurian ocean. 
At that time, the Alleghanies and Rocky Moun- 



MOUNTAIN-SYSTEMS. 255 

tains had not assumed their form and direction, and 
the only objects which rose above the barren waste 
of waters to break the monotony of the scene, were 
a few isolated islands, like the Iron-Mountain region 
of Missouri, Magnet Cove of Arkansas, and per- 
haps the Washita Mountains of Texas, the Black 
Hills of Nebraska, and the Central Plateau of 
Colorado. No forms of vegetable life, at that 
time, clothed the slopes of the hills, no forms of 
animal life roamed through the valleys, and even 
the waters were tenantless. It was emphatically a 
petrified continent, rigid and stony.* 

2. The Appalachian System. — This system, as 
we have seen, extends from Alabama to the River 
St. Lawrence, where it intersects the Azoic belt of 
Lake Superior, pursuing for 1,200 miles a general 
direction of northeast and southwest, and present- 
ing a nearly unbroken succession of conforming 
strata; and yet the strata at many points are trav- 
ersed by a series of faults, particularly observ- 

* This generalization was made bj the writer as far back as 1851, 
and was communicated to the American Association for the Advance- 
ment of Science, at the Cincinnati Meeting of that year. Agassiz, who 
was present, endorsed it as among the most important that had been 
made in American Geology. In some miscellaneous papers published 
in the "Atlantic Monthly," and subsequently collected into a volume, 
this eminent naturalist has substantially repeated my views; and 
while many ascribe to him the merit of this generalization, he himself, 
if questioned, would be the first to acknowledge the source from 
which it was derived. 



2 5 6 GEOLOGY. 

able in Southern Virginia and Northern Alabama, 
by which rocks of the Silurian era are brought to 
a level with those of the Carboniferous. These 
vertical displacements in some instances amount 
to 20,ooo feet. It was at the close of the Carbon- 
iferous epoch that the Appalachian chain became 
folded, plicated, and metamorphosed. The force 
by which these changes were produced, appears 
to have been a lateral one, and to have operated 
from the Atlantic side, since the steepest and most 
abrupt acclivities invariably face in that direction, 
and as the strata are traced westward, they unfold 
in a series of gentle undulations until they come 
within the influence of N. N. W. system of Illinois 
and other western States, where all further traces 
become obliterated. 

The Triassic and Jurassic series of the Atlantic 
Slope repose upon the upturned edges of the Appa- 
lachian System; and, while having the same general 
direction, and disturbed by an elevatory movement 
of their own, in no instance do they appear to have 
crossed the Alleghanies and invaded the valley of 
the Mississippi. On the other hand, the region of 
the Pacific opposed no barrier to the Triassic and 
Jurassic seas, since deposits of this age are found 
on both sides of the Rocky Mountains. 

Thus then, at this early epoch, we find evidences 



MOUNTAIN-SYSTEMS. 257 

of ancient shore-lines conforming to those which 
give configuration to the whole Atlantic Slope. 

3. The Rocky Mountain System. — This S3^stem 
has a general trend of N. N. W. and S. S. E. (though 
subject to minor deviations where invaded by the 
purely volcanic rocks), through the whole territory 
of the United States, This assemblage, view as a 
whole, may be regarded as a vast sea of mountains, 
sometimes rising in isolated summits above the 
snow-line, sometimes in ranges, either serrated or 
dome-shaped, often overlapping, and often sending 
out lateral spurs, as buttresses to the main wall. 
Whether called Sierra Madre, Sierra Blanca, 
Washtash, Wind-River, Black Hills, etc., they are 
but parts of one stupendous whole. 

With regard to the age of their elevation, much 
doubt has hitherto prevailed. Our own views, 
expressed as far back as 185 1, based on the obser- 
vations of Humboldt and Von Tschudi among the 
Andes of South America, was that their elevation 
was as late as the Cretaceous age. The observa- 
tions of those attached to the Pacific Railroad 
Surveys, seemed to point to the Carboniferous 
period, making their elevation contemporary with 
that of the Alleghanies; but the more exact obser- 
vations of Whitney in California, and of Rcmond 
in Northern Mexico, would indicate beyond a 
17 



258 GEOLOGY. 

doubt that their elevation to their present relative 
position, took place at or near the close of the 
Triassic period. Between the Rocky Mountains 
and the Sierra Nevada, we see no reason to draw 
a line of demarcation. They are parallel in direc- 
tion, are charged with the same metallic contents, 
and are invaded by the same volcanic products. 

Whitney, in summing up the results of the Cali- 
fornia Survey, remarks: 

" The sedimentary portion of the great metalliferous belt of 
the Pacific Coast of North America, is to a large extent made 
up of rocks of Jurassic and Triassic age, with a comparatively 
small development of Carboniferous limestone, and these 
formations are so folded together, broken up, and metamor- 
phosed in the great chain of the Sierra Nevada, that it will be 
immense labor, if indeed possible at all, to unravel its detailed 
structure. While we are fully justified in saying that a large 
portion of the auriferous rocks of California consists of Triassic 
and Jurassic strata, we have not a particle of evidence to 
sustain the theory which has been so often brought forward, 
that all, or even a portion of the auriferous rocks are older 
than the Carboniferous, not a trace of a Devonian or Silurian 
fossil ever having been discovered in California, or indeed any 
whei'e to the west of the 11 6th meridian. It appears, on the 
other hand, that no inconsiderable amount of gold has been 
obtained from metamorphic rocks, belonging as high up in 
the series as the Cretaceous.* 

While such are the generalizations of Whitney 
as to the age of the auriferous rocks of the Sierra 
Nevada, Remond arrives at the same results as to 

* " Paleontology of California," Vol. I. 



MOUNTAIN-SYSTEMS. 259 

the metalliferous rocks of Northern Mexico, em- 
braced in the ranges known as the Sierra Madre, 
which may be regarded as the southern extension 
of the Rocky Mountain system. 

" The oldest sedimentary rocks which I have observed 
belong to the Cai^boniferous series ; this is represented in the 
eastern part of Sonora, by heavy masses of limestone, forming 
very high and rugged ridges, running a little west of north. 

* * Argentiferous veins occur throughout this formation. 
The next group of rocks in order is the Triassic, * * 
made up of heavy beds of quartzites and conglomerates. 

* * Wherever metamorphosed, the Triassic rocks are 
auriferous, and contain veins of silver ores. * * The 
Cretaceous period is also represented at the foot of the Sierra 
Madre. * * The strata belonging to this series are chiefly 
argillaceous shales, and these rest upon porphyries and Car- 
boniferous limestones. They have been disturbed and elevated 
since their deposition. * * The veins cut all the rocks 
older than the Cretaceous, whether igneous or sedimentary." * 

These facts clearly indicate that the Sierra 
Nevada and Rocky-Mountain Chains were up- 
lifted, metamorphosed, and infiltrated with the 
precious metals at or about the close of the Tri- 

* " Proc. Cala. Academy Nat. Sci." Vol. III. 

It would seem that the Carboniferous and Triassic series exist in inti- 
mate relation through the whole range of the Rocky Mountains in the 
United States. The Triassic has been recognized in the Colorado 
Basin (Newberry) ; in the region of Washoe (Whitney) ; east of the 
Rio Grande, and in the vicinitj' of the Raton Mountain (Le Conte); 
in the Black Hills, Big Horn Mountains, and about the sources of the 
Missouri (Meek and Hayden). The Carboniferous series exists ii> 
great force in the region of Santa F^ (Newberry) ; Salt Lake (Hall); 
and in the Great Basin east of longitude 116° (Whitney). 



26o ' GEOLOGY. 

assic age; and yet they must have subsequently 
undergone great subsidence, for we find the Cre- 
taceous strata reposing undisturbed upon both 
slopes, and imposed on these, a series of Tertiary 
beds, some marine and some fresh-water, which 
appear to have been unaffected by the elevatory 
movements which gave form and direction to the 
Rocky-Mountain System. Subordinate systems 
are known to exist, and others will undoubtedly 
be determined; but it is to these three great lines 
of upheaval that the Mississippi Valley owes its 
configuration. 

The Coast Raiiges. — The elevation of the 
Coast Ranges of the Pacific, as determined by 
Antisell and others, is as recent as the Miocine- 
Tertiary, which has brought up strata over 2,000 
feet in thickness, containing fossils differing from 
those of the Mississippi Valley, and indicating a 
difTerence in the waters of the two oceans.* Later 
observations by Whitney show, that while the Cre- 
taceous strata repose undisturbed on the flanks of 
the Sierra Nevada, they partook of the movement 
by which the Coast Ranges were made to assume 
their present form and direction; and are, there- 
fore, far more modern in age. Their range is from 
the extremity of the peninsula of California to the 

* " Pacific Railroad Surveys." Vol. III. 



VOLCANIC PRODUCTS. 26 1 

British Possessions, and their bearing about N. 
70° W. 

VolcaTiic Products. — This class of rocks is 
observed in the form of basalts, greenstones, and 
amygdaloids, protruded among the grits and con- 
glomerates of the Silurian age, in the Lake Supe- 
rior district; but their grandest display is in the 
Rocky-Mountain region, and on the Pacific Slope. 
Mt. Hood, Shasta, and Lassan's Peak, on the one 
side, and the Raton Mountain, Long's Peak, and 
the Three Teutons, on the other, with San Fran- 
cisco and San Mateo on the Colorado Plateau, are, 
as we have seen, but volcanic craters, whose fires 
have but recently been extinguished. All over 
this region there are crested ridges and isolated 
peaks that have been thus lifted up, and from their 
orifices have flowed lava, peperino, scoria, and 
ashes, so copiously as to cover the fundamental 
rocks over large areas. These overflows will prob- 
ably be found to be of various ages, but some of 
thein are of extremely modern origin. Perhaps 
the most conspicuous example of recent action 
is exhibited at Table Mountain, California, as 
described by Whitney, where the summit con- 
sists of basaltic lava nearly 150 feet thick, and 
elevated 2,000 feet above the Stanislaus River. 
The stream of once molten matter is traceable for 



262 GEOLOGY. 

forty miles up to its source in the High Sierra; 
and, as it must have sought the lowest depressions, 
at the time of its overflow, it is inferred that the 
country has since been denuded to that extent. 
Beneath the basalt are about 200 feet of slightly- 
coherent sandstones, and argillaceous shales and 
clays, containing silicified wood and impressions 
of leaves, which Newberry refers to the later 
Pliocine epoch; and quite recently Silliman has 
obtained the fragmentary bones of a mastodon 
from the same locality. 

Gabb describes the occurrence of Post-Pliocine 
deposits on the peninsula of Lower California, 
made up almost of casts or shells of Molusca still 
living in the adjoining waters, which are often 
capped by volcanic products to the depth of 100 
feet; and Remond states that, scattered along the 
whole Pacific coast of Northern Mexico, volcanic 
products are found in positions which clearly indi- 
cate that they have been poured forth since the 
elevation of the formations which constitute the 
fundamental rocks of that region. 

These facts would indicate that man has proba- 
bly been witness to some of the most stupend- 
ous events which have modified the physical geog- 
raphy of the continent, — the lifting up of long lines 
of coast, the formation of volcanic cones 12,000 
feet or more in height, and the denudation of the 



RIVER-SYSTEMS. 263 

country to the depth of 2,000 feet. Accustomed 
as we are, at this day, to witness the cahii opera- 
tions of nature, rarely interrupted by catastrophes, 
it is almost impossible to conceive that such tre- 
mendous changes in the physical aspect of these 
regions, are to be ranked among the most recent 
of events in the world's history. 

River- Systems. — In comparing the Mountain- 
systems with the River-systems of the Great Inte- 
rior, we find that the direction of the Saskatchawan, 
the Churchill, the Athabasca, and other affluents of 
Hudson's Bay, together with those great fresh-water 
lakes, — Great Bear, Slave, and Athabasca, — almost 
rivaling in dimensions the Laurentian Chain, has 
been determined by the Lake Superior System; 
the Ohio and the St. Lawrence, including Lakes 
Erie and Ontario, by the Appalachian System; and 
the Upper Mississippi, the Missouri, together with 
Lake Winipeg, and Mackenzie's River, by the 
Rocky-Mountain System. 

The line of greatest depression on the continent 
would be represented by about longitude 90°, 
which cuts the Mississippi River, Lake Michigan, 
Lake Superior, and Hudson's Bay. That these fea- 
tures which make up the architecture of the Con- 
tinent are not fortuitous, but are the result of the 
operations of fixed laws, will be apparent to every 
careful student of physical geography. 



264 GEOLOGY. 

CLASSIFICATION OF THE FORMATIONS. 

Within this valley, though at no one point exhib- 
iting an unbroken succession, have been deposited 
the principal groups of formations observed else- 
where, as constituing the crust of the earth. 

Azoic System. — From the entire absence of all 
vestiges of organic remains in these rocks, and 
lying inconformably beneath that group which 
exhibits the first traces of such remains, this sys- 
tem has been called the Azoic (without life). It 
is inferred that the very condition of our planet at 
that epoch — an incandescent body gradually cool- 
ing, its crust subject to volcanic paroxysms, 
mephitic vapors constantly escaping through wide 
fissures communicating with the interior, and the 
waters heated to a high temperature, — would be 
highly unfavorable to the existence of animal or 
vegetable life. The rocks consist of igneous pro- 
ducts, such as granites, greenstones, and porphyries; 
and of metamorphic products, such as talcose 
and chlorite slates, quartzites, and saccharoidal 
marbles. 

In the Lake Superior region they are largely 
developed; and while the metamorphic strata are 
tilted at high angles, the Potsdam sandstone, 
which contains the earliest forms of organic life, 



IRON-ORES. 265 

reposes upon their basset edges, slightly metamor- 
phosed, and in nearly horizontal strata. 

The crystalline belt which forms the crest and 
eastern slope of the Appalachians has, by some, 
been referred to this system, while others regard 
it as a portion of the Silurian system highly meta- 
morphosed ; but the discussion of this question 
does not come within the purview of this work. 

In Missouri and Arkansas there are isolated 
patches of these rocks, w^hich appear to have been 
islands in the old Silurian sea, and it would seem 
that portions of the region occupied by the Rocky 
Mountains served as the floor of the Azoic ocean, 
on which the purel}^ sedimentary deposits were 
formed; for Newberry, in the Canon of the Little 
Colorado, saw in one magnificent section, over 
4,000 feet in depth, an unbroken succession of sedi- 
mentary rocks, conformable in dip, and extending 
from the Potsdam sandstone, reposing on granite, 
up to and including the Carboniferous series; and 
Meek and Hayden have detected the Potsdam 
sandstone, with its characteristic fossils, in the 
Black Hills of Nebraska. 

Iron Ores. — The Azoic rocks are the reposito- 
ries of vast deposits of specular and magnetic oxide 
of iron. They range through the region of Lake 
Superior; they occur in Canada, in the Adiron- 



266 GEOLOGY. 

dacks of New York, in New Jersey, Missouri, and 
Arkansas. 

Iron Region of Lake Superior. — As inti- 
mately connected with the commerce and manufac- 
tures of the Mississippi Valley, the ores of iron, 
occurring at two of the points above enumerated, 
deserve a more extended notice, both by reason 
of their purity, and the magnitude of the deposits' 
viz., those of Lake Superior and of Missouri. 

There is no region of the earth where the ores 
of iron are developed on a scale of such grandeur, 
or concentrated In a state of such purity, as on the 
southern shore of Lake Superior. Nljny Tagilsk, 
Dannemora, and Elba, may contain isolated deposits 
equally rich; but these combined would occupy a 
mere patch on the surface over which the ores of 
this region are known to be distributed. 

This area is somewhat Irregular in outline. Its 
length, east and west, is about one hundred and 
fifty miles, with a variable breadth, north and south, 
from six to seventy miles. The greatest concen- 
tration of the ores, however. Is in the vicinity of 
the Jackson, Cleveland, and Lake Superior mines. 
For many years these ores were worked in open 
quarry; but, with the vast demand, it has become 
necessary to sink upon them below the drainage 
of the countr}'. This demand now exceeds one- 
half million of tons a 3'ear. In the furnace, the ores 



IRON-ORES. 267 

yield about 65 per cent, of pig metal, which, 
when properly puddled, gives an iron of great 
strength and tenacity. The principal market for 
these ores is in the Mahoning and Shenango Val- 
le3's, Detroit, Buffalo, and Pittsburgh. 

Iron Region of Missouri. — In this region, 
embracing the counties of Iron and St. Francois, 
in the State of Missouri — about eighty miles south 
of St. Louis, — occur large deposits of specular and 
magnetic iron-ores, known as Iron Mountain, Pilot 
Knob, and Shepherd's Mountain. The Iron Moun- 
tain rises to the height of about 200 feet above the 
surrounding country, and, while so far as revealed 
by the inicovering, it contains a vast amount of ore 
of the purest quality, it is traversed north and 
south by one or more porphyritic dykes. The ore, 
externally, has the appearance of an erupted mass. 
Pilot Knob rises to the height of 581 feet, in a 
symmetrical form. The mass is porphyry to the 
height of 450 feet. Then succeeds a layer of 
banded ore, resembling a metamorphic product, 
about 60 feet in thickness, which is capped by a 
lean, jaspery ore, 70 feet in thickness, forming the 
summit of the hill. At Shepherd's Mountain the 
ores are magnetic, and occur in two veins, respect- 
ively eight and fourteen feet in width, traversing 
porphyry. These ores give, in their working, about 
60 per cent, of pig iron, and are known to iron- 



268 GEOLOGY. 

masters as " neutral " in the quality of bar-iron. 
In Dent County there is said to exist a mountain- 
mass of iron-ore still larger than any described. 

Owing to the supposed remoteness of a proper 
fuel to smelt these ores, the greatest product of the 
mines in no one year has exceeded 25,000 tons; 
but there has lately been developed an iron-making 
coal in the counties of Randolph and Perry, adjoin- 
ing the Mississippi River, in the State of Illinois, so 
that a union between the materials for iron-makinsf 
can be easily effected, and these ores will hereafter 
play a more prominent part in the manufacturing 
industry of the Mississippi Valley. 

In Missouri, the granite associated with this 
series of rocks is traversed by nuinerous veins of 
tin — a discovery which, at the time of its 
announcement, was received with much distrust 
by the scientific communit}^ Like tin veins in 
other parts of the world, they are not rich, but 
specimens have been assayed which gave as high 
as eight per cent, of metal. 

Gold has been found sparsely distributed in the 
Azoic rocks throughout their entire range; and the 
baser metals, copper and lead, are by no means 
rare. The true Golden Age of the world, how- 
ever, was of far more recent date. 

The igneous and metamorphic rocks are the 
principal repositories of metallic wealth. This 



AGES OF THE METALS. 269 

wealth Is concentrated in the form of veins, or in 
beds running parallel with the formation. The 
accuracy of the opinion almost universally enter- 
tained in the early investigation of mineral veins, 
that they had been filled by injections from beneath, 
may well be doubted. Their tilling, where they 
exhibit a comb-like structure, must have been the 
result of successive infiltrations, and their iranirues, 
particularly where they consist of the zeolite min- 
erals, would indicate that water, or superheated 
steam, rather than heat, had been the solvent 
power. It will probably be found, too, that some 
action like that of galvanism, has abstracted the 
metallic particles from the enclosing rocks, and 
concentrated them in fissures and beds. The 
theory of injection has led to the delusive idea, 
justified by no mining experience, that veins 
become enriched in proportion to the depth pene- 
trated. 

According to the Mythology of the Ancients, 
there were Four Ages, symbolized by the four 
metals — gold, silver, brass (copper), and iron. 
The geologist, while recognizing the fact that cer- 
tain periods in the earth's history were prolific in 
certain metals, fails to recognize this order of suc- 
cession. The Azoic series is characterized by the 
abundance of iron; copper is associated with the 
first-formed sedimentary rocks, or rather their igne- 



270 GEOLOGY. 

ous products; lead predominates in the Lower 
Silurian and Sub-carboniferous series; silver is of 
the Carboniferous age, and even of that of the Ter- 
tiary volcanic rocks; gold appertains to the Tri- 
assic; and mercury to the Cretaceous. 

The Golden Age, according the poets, was one 
of unmixed delight, when man, 

"Vindice nullo, 
Sponte sua sine lege fidem rectumque colebat." 

Ours is emphatically an age of Iron. The use 
of this metal is intiniately associated with the 
"whole history of the progress and civilization of 
man. In every thing relating to the production, 
transformation, and distribution of material wealth, 
whether extracted from the sea, the soil, or the 
deep recesses of mines, iron performs an all-impor- 
tant part. No other metal could be successfully 
substituted for the axe, the plough, or the spade; or 
for the loom, the steam-engine, the locomotive, or 
the railroad track. 

" Every one," says Ure, " knows the manifold uses of this 
truly precious metal. It is capable of being cast into moulds 
of any form ; of being drawn into wires of any desired strength 
or fineness ; of being extended into plates or sheets ; of being 
bent in any direction ; of being sharpened, hardened, and soft- 
ened at pleasure. It accommodates itself to all our wants, 
our desires, and even our caprices. It is equally sen-iceable 
in the arts, the sciences, to agriculture, and war ; the same 
ore furnishes the sword, the ploughshare, the scythe, the prun- 



IRON-PRODUCT. 2 7 I 

ing-hook, the needle, the graver, the spring of a watch, or of 
a carriage, the chisel, the cannon, and the bomb. It is a 
medicine of much virtue, and the only metal friendly to the 
animal frame." * 

The amount of iron consumed by a nation may 
be regarded as an unerring index of its progress in 
civilization. In Great Britain the annual consump- 
tion is about the combined weight of the whole 
population; in the United States and France, it is 
a little less; and in Prussia, Austria, and Russia, 
it is still less. 

The following is the annual product of pig and 
wrought iron in the several countries of the world, 
in tons of 2,240 pounds each: f 

Pig Iron. Wrought Iron. 

England, ------- 4,530,051 3,500,000 

France, ------- 1,200,320 844.734 

United States, ------ 1,175,000 882,000 

Belgium, ------- 500,000 400.000 

Prussia, ------- 800.000 400.000 

Austria, ------- 312,000 200.000 

Sweden, ------- 226.676 148.292 

Russia, ------- 40S 000 350,000 

Spain, -------- 75.000 50.000 

Italy, ------- 30,000 20,000 

Switzerland, ---_-_ 15,000 10,000 

Zollverein, ------- 250.000 200,000 

9,322,047 7.005,026 

* "Ure's Die." Art. Iron, 
t Hewitt's " Report," etc. (Paris Universal Exposition), 1S67. 



CHAPTER IX. 

GEOLOGY {^Continued) SEDIMENTARY ROCKS. 

SILURIAN SYSTEM FIRST EVIDENCES OF ORGANIC LIFE 

AREA OF THE SILURIAN LOWER SILURIAN POTSDAM 

SANDSTONE PICTURED ROCKS COPPER REGION OF LAKE 

SUPERIOR LOWER MAGNESIAN LIMESTONE LEAD-BEAR- 
ING VEINS OF MISSOURI ST. PETEr's SANDSTONE CINCIN- 
NATI BLUE LIMESTONE — -LEAD-BEARING ROCKS OF WISCON- 
SIN UPPER SILURIAN SYSTEM NIAGARA LIMESTONE 

ONONDAGA SALT-GROUP DEVONIAN SYSTEM CARBONIF- 
EROUS SYSTEM FLUOR-SPAR VEINS WITH GALENA GALENA 

DEPOSITS SILVER ORES OF MEXICO COAL-MEASURES 

THEIR AREA THICKNESS CHARACTER OF THE COALS 

PERMIAN SYSTEM TRIASSIC AND JURASSIC SERIES GOLD- 
DEPOSITS OF CALIFORNIA COPPER DEPOSITS CRETACEOUS 

SYSTEM COAL DEPOSITS, 

In treating of the vast assemblage of rocks of a 
purely sedimentary origin which fills the connected 
basins of the Ohio, the Missouri, and the Missis- 
sippi, we shall begin with a description of the 
lowest, and, therefore, the first-formed, and pro- 
ceed in an ascendinof order to the most recent. 
And that the reader may fully comprehend the 
order of succession, so far as relates to the Lower 
Silurian groups, and their relation to the igneous 



SILURIAT^ SYSTEM. 273 

rocks, we append the following ideal section, 
extending from the Copper-region of Lake Supe- 
rior to the Lead-bearing region of the Mississippi 

Valley: 




1. Azoic rocks of Lake Superior, bearing iron. 

2. Trappean rocks of Lake Superior, bearing copper. 

3. Potsdam Sandstone. 

4. Magnesian Limestone, including St. Peter's Sandstone, the 

Lead-bearing rock of Missouri. 

5. Trenton Limestone. 

6. Galena Limestone, Lead-bearing rock of Wisconsin. 

7. Cincinnati Blue Limestone. 

8. Niagara Limestone, capping mounds. 



The Silurian System. — The term Silurian 
was first applied to a series of fossiliferous strata 
lying below the Old-Red sandstone, and occupy- 
ing a part of Wales, and some contiguous counties 
in England, which were once inhabited by the 
SiLURES, a tribe of ancient Britons; but so univer- 
sally has this series of rocks been recognized, the 
world over, that the term has passed into the 
nomenclature of ever}' text-book on geology. In 
this region, this system is divisible into not less 
than eight distinct groups, characterized alike by 
fossil remains and lithological characters. 

In the lowest member of this system — the Pots- 
dam SANDSTONE — we detect the first traces of 
18 



274 GEOLOGY. 

organic life, — not of those complicated and highly- 
organized forms which now inhabit the earth, but 
low in the scale of creation, — trilobites, with 
crescent-shaped head and jointed body, allied to the 
crab and lobster; graptolites, or sea-pens, so 
closely resembling certain vegetable forms that 
zoologists long hesitated to which kingdom to 
assign them; encrinites, which were permanently 
attached to the sea-bottom, and sent forth their 
branches like vegetable forms; and chambered 
shells of the least ornate structure. It is no part 
of this treatise to describe the succession of oro^an- 
isms introduced upon the earth, — beginning with 
the simplest forms, and terminating in man, the 
most complex in organization, and far-reaching in 
his capacities. To this succession incidental refer- 
ence only will be made. The economic materials, 
however, furnished by these several groups, will 
be dwelt upon more in detail. 

The greatest area occupied by the Silurian Sys- 
tem (See the Geological Sketch of the United 
States appended to this Chapter, p. 271), lies south 
of the Azoic belt of Lake Superior and stretches 
west to near the Missouri River, comprehending 
portions of Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minne- 
sota, and Iowa. In this area are to be found all 
of the groups from the Potsdam sandstone up to 
the Niagara limestone. In Ohio, a circular area 



SILURIAN- SYSTEM. 275 

of thin-bedded limestones occurs in the vicinity of 
Cincinnati, which has received the name of the 
Blue limestone, as typical of that member of the 
system. The Silurian rocks flank both slopes of 
the Alleghanies; they occupy a large area in 
Southeastern Missouri, extending into Southern 
Illinois, and Northeastern Arkansas. They have 
been recognized in the Black Hills of Nebraska, 
and in the Black Canon of the Little Colorado. 

Lower Silurian System. — The Potsdam sand- 
stone finds its greatest development in the region 
of Lake Superior, and it is probable that the bed 
of this lake, whose area is 32,000 square miles, is 
mainly excavated in this rock. Here, where it 
has been invaded by trappean overflows, it is 
highly metamorphosed, often containing jaspery 
materials and large pebbles of greenstone and 
amygdaloid, derived from the immediate vicinity, 
but no pebbles like granite or quartz, which are 
foreign to the region. So energetic were the 
igneous and acqueous causes, that they have been 
accumulated to the thickness of more than 3,000 
feet, while 250 feet would represent the general 
thickness of this member, remote from this telluric 
activity. South of the Azoic belt, the sandstone 
is so slightly coherent that it may be crushed in 
the hand, and is characterized by the presence of 



276 GEOLOGY. 

Lingulcs and Trilohites. It extends south to the 
Wisconsin River, and west to the Mississippi, in 
Minnesota. In this region the strata repose hori- 
zontally upon the irregular surface of the Azoic 
series. 

Pictured Rocks of Lake Superior. — The 
best natural section of the Potsdam sandstone in 
the Northwest, is afforded by the famous Pictured 
Rocks of Lake Superior. Commencing at Grand 
Island, and extending eastward for about five miles, 
this group of strata lines the shore, rising from the 
water's edge, in mural-like faces, from 50 to 200 
feet in height, not in an unbroken line, but in a 
series of projections and recessions. It is not the 
mere height of these cliffs, or the bold sweep of 
their lines, which constitute the charm of this land- 
scape, and impress so profoundly the beholder; 
but it arises from two other sources, — the brilliant 
hues with which they are dyed, and the fantastic 
shapes into which they have been excavated. 
While the general tone of the rock is a light-yel- 
low, at particular points there are broad vertical 
stripes extending for thirty or forty feet above the 
water, variously-tinted umber, yellow, and grey, 
together with bright-blue and green, the two latter 
tints being less frequent. All the colors are fresh, 
distinct, and brilliant, as in a fresco painting; and, 
embracing the whole scene in a coup (fceil, — the 



PICTURED ROCKS. 277 

deep-blue waters of the lake at the base, the canopy 
of bright-green foliage above, and still beyond the 
over- arching sky, — the effect is grand and beautiful. 
These colors result probably from the percolation 
of the w^ater through the strata, taking up various 
mineral oxides, and depositing them on the nearly 
vertical walls. Adverting to the second conspicu- 
ous feature, it may be said that the action of the 
lake-waves upon the slowly-yielding strata, con- 
tinued through an indefinite period of time, has 
excavated them into man}^ grotesque forms. As 
approached from Grand Island, in the distance 
they resemble the ruins of some fortified cit}^, — 
ramparts formed into bastions and curtains, soli- 
tar}^ towers, and long lines of wall, with arched 
entrances, or portals ; and hence, the early voya- 
creurs gave to this assemblao-e of rocks the name 
of Les Portaih. Coasting in a small boat, along 
the verge of the water and beneath the overhang- 
ing clifis, the observer passes a succession of 
scenes each one of which is of rare and exquisite 
beauty: — "Miner's Castle," with its turrets and 
portals; the "Amphitheatre," with its smooth walls 
and its symmetrical curves; "Sail Rock," where a 
tabular mass of sandstone, detached from the clifis 
above, stands nearly vertically in the water, pre- 
senting the similitude of a sloop under full sail; 
and the " Grand Portal," where a quadrilateral 



278 GEOLOGY. 

mass of strata 200 feet in height, projects into the 
lake for 600 feet, and is pierced with an arched 
opening 100 feet high and 168 feet broad, leading 
through high vaulted passages into the great dome, 
300 feet from the face of the clitf. Nor must it be 
forgotten that the effects of this scenery are height- 
ened by occasional cascades, which descend in a 
sheet of foam from the brow of the cliffs, and 
mingle with the waters of the lake. 

The whole line of cliffs presents a succession 
of wonderful and constantl3'-varying scenes, and 
amply repays the tourist who pauses sufficiently 
long to contemplate the details.* 

This group of rocks is recognized as flanking the 
Alleghanies in Tennessee, always disturbed, and 
sometimes in nearly vertical strata. Traces, too, 
are observed in the vicinity of the Iron Mountain, 
Missouri, where it is nearly horizontal. It appears 
in Burnet County, Texas (Shumard) ; in the Black 
Canon (Newberry) ; and in the Black Hills of 
Dakota, the Laramie, Big Horn, and Wind-River 
Ranges of the Rocky Mountains (Hayden). It 
would thus seem that the Potsdam sandstone 
was deposited in a sea whose confines were as 
extended as those of the Great Valley, and that it 



* For a more minute description of the " Pictured Rocks," see Fos- 
ter and Whitney's Report, " Geology of Lake Superior Region." 
Vol. II. 



COPPER-REGION. 279 

rests at the base of the whole fossiliferous series. 
Thus far, throughout its range, we are not aware 
of its having proved metalliferous, except in con- 
nection with the igneous products, in the region of 
Lake Superior. 

The Copper-Region of Lake Superior com- 
mences at the head of Keweenaw Point, where the 
trappean rocks, with their associated conglomer- 
ates, rise up in bold, stair-like cliffs, and afford 
many scenes of picturesque beauty. This peculiar 
physiognomy is characteristic of the whole trap- 
pean region. From this point, in a variable belt, 
from two to ten miles broad, the associated traps, 
conglomerates, and sandstones, range in a south- 
western direction for 130 miles, conforming to the 
trend of the shore, when they sink down, and their 
presence is only indicated at times by an isolated 
knob. Those portions of the range most produc- 
tive in copper, are in the vicinity of Portage Lake, 
the Cliff, and Copper Falls locations, and the 
Ontonagon River. Native copper is almost exclu- 
sively found. On Keweenaw Point it occurs in 
a system of veins bearing about north 21^*^ west. 
In the early mining, it was supposed that the pro- 
ductive deposits were restricted to these veins; 
but, in the progress of development, it was found 
that certain intercalated beds of amygdaloid and 
volcanic ash were sufBciently impregnated with 



28o GEOLOGY. 

copper to render its extraction profitable; and it is 
from the latter sources that the bulk of the copper 
is now derived. 

The annual consumption of refined copper in the 
United States is about 12,000 tons, of which these 
mines furnish about 9,000 tons; Tennessee, 100 
tons; and California, and Vermont, 2,500 tons, 
leaving a small surplus for exportation. 

The Magnesian limestone, the equivalent 
of the Calciferous sandstone of the New York 
Survey, is nearly as persistent in its range as the 
Potsdam sandstone; but in the Lake Superior 
region it assumes an arenaceous character, while 
in Wisconsin and Missouri it becomes a gray, cal-- 
careous rock (an almost pure dolomite), with more 
or less embedded chert. The Magnesian limestone 
series in the latter State, as determined by Swal- 
low, is divisable into four members, numbered 
in a descending order: i. (190 feet); 2. (230 
feet); 3. (350 feet); and 4. (300 feet); sepa- 
rated by bands of sandstone, saccharoidal in char- 
acter, varying from 50 to 125 feet. While the 
Second Magnesian limestone contains galena in 
economical quantities, the well-known mines of 
Washington, Franklin, and St. Francjois Counties, 
are in the third member of the series. 

The Lead-bearing Veins of Missouri appear 
under different forms. In Franklin County, there 



LEAD-BEARING VEINS. 251 

is a series of vertical fissures, bearing nearly north 
and south, which penetrate indefinitely downwards, 
filled in with sulphate of barytes and associated 
with galena. Where they pass through a soft 
mineral plane they become enlarged and enriched j 
and where they enter a close, cherty rock, they 
become pinched and impoverished. Like other 
classes of veins, they have their " chimneys " or 
cavernous openings, where the " mineral " is con- 
centrated. Galena also occurs in flat sheets in the 
soft arenaceous bands of Magnesian limestone, 
which weather into a yellowish sand. At Mine 
la Motte and St. Joseph's, the lead is deposited 
at the base of the individual layers of limestone, 
which are separated by well-defined lines of strati- 
fication, as though the metal had been held in 
solution with the lime, and precipitated, and accom- 
modated itself to this position by reason of its 
greater specific gravity. At Mine la Motte, also, 
occurs nickel in paying quantities, in connection 
with cobalt and copper. 

The St. Peter's sandstone is the line of sepa- 
ration between the Lower Magnesian and Trenton 
groups, and is readily recognized in Illinois, Iowa, 
Wisconsin, and Minnesota. Its thickness rarely 
exceeds loo feet. It is a soft, friable rock, often 
pure-white, and is employed for glass-making, at 
Chicago. 



202 GEOLOGY. 

The Trenton-limestone group Is widely dis- 
tributed. It Is recognized along the southern shore 
of Lake Huron, and amid the Islands of the St. 
Mary's River. It crosses the Escanaba Rlv'er just 
above the head of Bay de Noquet, and thence Is 
protracted Into Wisconsin, Iowa, and Illinois, where 
it rests at the base of the lead-bearing rocks. It 
forms the crest of the Falls of St. Anthony, 
reappears on the Missouri River, In Franklin 
County, and on the Mississippi, below St. Louis, 
and Is developed In the Interior of Kentucky and 
Tennessee, where It Is known as the Stone's-River 
group. 

The Galena limestone may be regarded as 
an Intercalation In the series, and Is locally 
developed In the southwestern part of Wisconsin 
and the adjacent parts of Iowa and Illinois, embrac- 
ing an area of about 3,000 square miles. Its thick- 
ness Is about 250 feet. Its tone Is light-grey or 
yellowish, and the rock Itself, a compound car- 
bonate of lime and magnesia (dolomite), often 
weathers into fantastic forms, leaving at the base a 
coarse, meagre, ochre-colored sand. It Is by no 
means rich in fossils, but there is a peculiar 
sun-flower-like form, the Solenoides ioivensis of 
Owen, which, when once seen by the casual 
observer. Is ever afterwards recognized. With 
regard to the occurrence of galena in this lime- 



SILURIAN SYSTEM. 283 

stone, It may be said that the upper fifty feet are 
unproductive. The middle is characterized by 
gash veins, which are crevices with no polished 
walls or well characterized gangue. These crevi- 
ces, as followed, often expand into " openings " or 
caves, which again close up to a mere seam. 
As traced downward to the Trenton or Buff lime- 
stone, the " mineral " spreads out in a flat sheet, 
or bed-like form, with a considerable pitch to some 
angle of the horizon. The ore is almost invariably 
a sulphuret of lead (galena), except where decom- 
position has partially taken place, when the cubes 
are often studded with pearl-colored crystals of 
carbonate of lead. Sulphuret of zinc (black-jack), 
carbonate of zinc, iron pyrites, and occasionally car- 
bonate of copper, accompany the galena, together 
with calc-spar, and rarely heavy spar. 

The Cincinnati blue limestone, the equiva- 
lent of what was formerly regarded as the Hudson- 
River group of the New York Reports, occurs at 
the typical locality, in thin-bedded strata of lime- 
stone, profusely filled with fossils, with interlami- 
nated marls and shales. It is also traced along 
Drummond's Island in the St. Mary's River and 
the northern slope of Lake Michigan to Green 
Bay, and through Lake Winnebago. It reappears 
in the lead-region of Wisconsin and Iowa, in isola- 
ted mounds, often capped by the Niagara lime- 



284 GEOLOGY. 

stone. Here it is about fifty feet thick, and the 
layers consist mainly of calcareous shales, in which 
the Nucida forms the predominating fossil, while 
Orthoceratites and Lingulce are not wanting. 
This group is recognized in Missouri, by Swallow, 
where it is 220 feet in thickness, and by Worthen 
in Southern Illinois, adjacent to the Mississippi 
River. 

Upper Silurian System. — The Niagara lime- 
stone series is a most important one in the Lake 
region, inasmuch as the shore-lines for many hun- 
dred miles have been determined by its range. It 
is an enduring rock, and furnishes a building mate- 
rial of an agreeable color, and easily-wrought. 
From Niagara Falls, it ranges through Canada, 
forming the ridges near Hamilton and Dundas, 
and the conspicuous promontory known as Cabot's 
Head on Lake Huron; and thence through 
the Manitoulin Islands, and along the northern 
shore of Lake Michigan and the eastern shore 
of Green Bay; thence through Wisconsin to 
Chicago and the head of Lake Michigan. In this 
vicinity it is known as the "Athens marble," and 
in chemical composition is almost a pure dolo- 
mite. It is of a light-grey, or cream-colored tint, 
and forms one of the best and most easily-wrought 
materials for architectural purposes to be found in 



SILURIAN SYSTEM. 285 

the United States. The thickness of the series is 
about 250 feet. Traced westward, it becomes the 
fundamental rock over a large space in North- 
western Illinois, rises in continuous bluffs along 
the Mississippi, and caps, in many instances, the 
mounds of the Lead-region. Near the town of 
Hampton, according to Worthen, it sinks below 
the bed of the Mississippi, but reappears along the 
southwestern border of the State, and in Jersey 
County, forms perpendicular cliffs from 50 to 100 
feet high, along the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers. 
The quarries at Grafton furnished the material for 
that noble structure, now in ruins, the Lindell 
Hotel of St. Louis.* 

The Onondaga-salt group forms the base 
of the island of Mackinac, is developed in the inte- 
rior of Michigan, and is recognized by Hall,f in 
Wisconsin and Iowa. It is not improbable that 
the bed of Lake Michigan has been in part exca- 
vated in this group. That portion of the series in 
which originate the salt-springs in the vicinity of 
Saginaw, has been designated by Winchell as 
the Salina group, and is estimated to cover an 
area of 17,000 square miles. The annual product 

* "Geology of Illinois." Vol. I, p. 136. 
t " Geology of Iowa.' P. 76. 



286 GEOLOGY. 

of the salt- wells of Michigan reaches 1,300,000 
bushels. 

Devonian System. — The rocks consist of sand- 
stones, limestones, and shales. In their range, they 
occupy nearly the whole area of Lower Michigan, 
Western Ohio, and Eastern Indiana, and are pro- 
tracted southerly into Kentucky and Tennessee. A 
narrow belt, running northwest and southeast, skirts 
the northern rim of the coal-field in Iowa, and a 
limited area also occurs in Northeastern Missouri. 
Among the fossils collected by Stansbury in the 
vicinity of Salt Lake, Hall recognized Devonian 
t3'pes, and Meek has described their occurrence in 
the Great Basin, near the base of the Sierra 
Nevada. 

These rocks are the reservoirs of the copious 
petroleum springs of Western Pennsylvania, which 
have added so much to the national wealth, the 
exports of which now exceed ninety-four and one- 
half millions of gallons. 

To illustrate the order of succession in the 
groups which make up the interval between the 
Silurian and Cretaceous formations, the following 
ideal section, from the Smoky-Hill River, west of 
Fort Riley, Kansas, to Callawa}' County, Missouri, 
is appended: 



CARBONIFEROUS. 



287 



SECTION FROM KANSAS TO MISSOURI. 
5 4 




1. Devonian, the equivalent of the Hamilton, Onondaga, and Oris- 

kany groups of the New York Reports. 

2. Sub-carboniferous, including the Ferruginous sandstone. Upper 

Archimedes orKaskaskia limestone, Prairie du Rocher sandstone, 
Middle Archimedes or Ste. Genevieve limestone, St. Louis lime- 
stone, Lower Archimedes or Keokuk limestone, and Encrinital 
limestone of the Missouri Reports. 

3. Coal-Measures of Missouri and Kansas. 

4. Permian, embracing the variegated marls and soft magnesian 

limestones of Kansas. 

5. Triassic.^ along the western border of the Permian. 

6. Cretaceous. — Reddish and whitish sandstones of the Dakota 

group, widely distributed over Western Kansas. 



Carboniferous System — (^d). Sub-carbonifer- 
ous. — In the States of Iowa, Illinois, and Missouri, 
the Sub-carboniferous limestones are developed 
on a scale of unbroken succession, and are stored 
with a variety and profusion of organic forms such 
as are not elsewhere observed. To the palaeon- 
tologist they afford materials of absorbing interest, 
and the splendid illustrations which have already 
been given in the Geological Reports of these 
States, convey to us a pretty complete knowledge 
of the conditions of organic life during this period 
in the history of our planet. 

Taking Illinois as typical of these groups, we 



288 GEOLOGY. 

have between the base of the Coal-Measures and 
the Devonian, the following subdivisions, as deter- 
mined byWorthen: 

Chester group, ------ 500 to 800 feet thick. 

St. Louis group, ----- 50 to 200 " 

Keokuk group, ------ 100 to 150 " 

BuRLI>fGTON LIMESTONE, - - - - 25 tO lOO " 

KiNDERHOOK GROUP, ----- lOO tO I5O " 

Chester group. — The calcareous members of 
this group are a grey and closely-granulated lime- 
stone, well fitted for building purposes, and are 
characterized by the presence of an immense nauti- 
loid shell nearly two feet in diameter {Nautilus 
spectabilis), together with some sixteen species 
of fishes, besides Crinoids and Brachipods. 

The St. Louis limestone is a regularly-bed- 
ded, light-grey, or bluish-grey limestone, and in 
composition is a nearly pure carbonate of lime. 
The Melonites mtcltipora, resembling the fruit of 
the tomato, and the Poteriocrinus missouriensis 
are characteristic Crinoids. This rock is highly 
cavernous, and in the vicinity of St. Louis there 
are many sink-holes, which indicate the entrance 
to these caverns. 

The Keokuk limestone is, at Nauvoo and Keo- 
kuk, a regular-bedded, grey rock, well fitted for 
building purposes. Above this, in position, is the 
Geode-bed, which has furnished so many fine spe- 
cimens of quartz crystallizations. The geodes occur 



SUB-CARBONIFEROUS SERIES. 289 

disseminated through shaley limestone, sometimes 
so aggregated as to touch one another, and again 
so disseminated that several feet of the shale will 
afford not more than a single specimen. Some- 
times the cavities are filled with asphaltum, and at 
others with water, and there often occur splendid 
groups of calcite crystals, implanted on crystalline 
quartz.* 

The Burlington limestone, in its upper part, 
is a light-grey, or yellowish limestone, and consists 
almost entirely of a mass of Crinoids. The lower 
portion is more magnesian, and of a brownish 
color, and disintegrates so readily that it is unfit 
for building pui-poses. Worthen, in speaking of 
the beauty and profusion of the Crinoids in this 
group, says: 

" No spot of the same geographical extent has yet been dis- 
covered on the surface of tlie earth, where those beautiful 
" lily stars" flourished in such numbers, as along the nortliern 
shores of the Sub-carboniferous ocean, during the deposit of 
this limestone ; and no where else have their remains been 
found in such profusion, or in such a perfect state of preserva- 
tion as in this rock. * * * More than three hundred spe- 
cies have already been described from this region, and many 
new ones are still being discovered, from time to time ; and 
yet probably not one individual in every hundred that lived 
during this period, has been preserved in such a condition 
that their specific character can now be obtained."t 

* "Illinois Geol. Rep." Vol. I, p. 96. 

t Ibidem, p. 104. 
19 



290 GEOLOGY. 

The Kinderhook group consists of sandy and 
argillaceous shales, with thin beds of fine-grained, 
oolitic limestone, the whole being from one to two 
hundred feet in thickness, and constituting, accord- 
ing to Worthen and Meek, the base of the Sub- 
carboniferous system, being the equivalent of the 
Lower limestone seen at Burlington; of the Gonia- 
tite-bed at Rockford, Indiana; of the Waverley 
sandstone of Ohio; and of the Choteau, the Litho- 
graphic, and Vermicular sandstones and shales of 
the Missouri Reports. 

The entire series of the Sub-carboniferous rocks, 
in Southern Illinois, attain a thickness of 1,200 and 
1,500 feet; but they thin out as traced northward, 
and at LaSalle, the Coal-Measures are seen to 
repose upon the upturned edges of the Lower 
Silurian groups. They are, however, found to 
encircle the Michigan coal-field; in Ohio, they 
are represented b}^ a thin group of arenaceous 
deposits, and are recognized in Tennessee, Arkan- 
sas, and Texas. Limestones of the Carboniferous 
age, highly metamorphosed, exist along the eastern 
slope of the Rocky Mountains, probably almost 
continuousl}^ from Mexico to British Columbia; on 
the Colorado Plateau; and in the Great Basin. 
They are the oldest group which has been recog- 
nized on the Pacific Slope, and often occur in con- 
nection with and conforminir to the Trias. 



SUB-CARBONIFEROUS SYSTEM. 29 1 

The Sub-carboniferous rocks, like the corres- 
ponding groups in England, at certain points are 
productive in galena. In Southern Illinois this ore 
is intimately associated with heavy veins of fluor 
spar, a substance so rare in mass, that it deserves 
more than a passing notice; and particularly, when 
it is understood that it can be obtained in an 
unlimited quantity, and that it may be extensively 
employed in the metallurgic arts. 

Fluor spar-veins carrying Galena. — There 
is a series of flexures in Illinois, first noticed by 
Norwood and confirmed by the observations of 
Worthen, running about N. 30° W., which have 
brought to the surface the Silurian rocks, and have 
disturbed and given a quaquaversal dip to the 
Coal-Measures. This system is at right angles 
to Appalachian system, and conforms to that of 
the Rocky Mountains. Thus, in the valley of the 
Ohio River, we find the Coal-Measures of Illinois 
separated from those of Kentucky by an axis which 
has brought up both divisions of the Chester group, 
the St. Louis limestone, and the Upper Devonian 
shales. The crown of this axis is well displa3^ed 
in the vicinity of Rosiclare, Hardin Count}', where, 
in a bluff, two hundred feet or more in height, 
overlooking the Ohio River, are exhibited the 
sandstones, shales, and argillaceous limestones of 
the Chester group, and about fifty feet of the St. 



292 



GEOLOGY. 



Louis limestone beneath, which is here a grey- 
tinted rock, often oolitic in structure, and chemi- 
cally an almost pure carbonate of lime. While 
the fissures traverse both groups, it is only in the 
St. Louis limestone that they develop their true 
metalliferous character. 

These phenomena are illustrated in the follow- 
ing 

SECTION ACROSS THE OHIO VALLEY. 









1^ 

j2 a 
K 3 




s. w. 



1. Coal-Measures. 

2. Chester group (Upper Division). 

3. Chester group (Lower Division). 

4. St. Louis limestone. 

5. Upper Devonian shales. 



The Sub-carboniferous groups are intersected 
at right angles to their bearing by a set of veins 
of fluor spar, ranging about N. 20° E., and appar- 
ently of indefinite depth. These fissures present 
all of the phenomena of true veins. They cut 
through different mineral planes, their gangue dif- 
fers from the enclosing walls, there is a lining of 
oi Jiucan on either side, and they pursue a nearly 
undeviating course, except where they enter the 



LEAD-BEARING VEINS. 



293 



sandstone which becomes shattered and tilted up, 
'"•"n at an angle as high as 45°, at the point of 
contact. This is represented in the annexed wood- 
cut, which exhibits the following section of one of 
the veins; 



1. Sandstone. 

2. Flucan, or shale, 6 feet. 

3. Fluor spar, 4 feet. 

4. Flucan, 3 feet. 

5. Limestone of indefinite depth. 




The vein at this point has a width of 13 feet, 

and as traced downward is observed to expand, 

and at the depth of 150 feet, exhibits the annexed 

if - ^" section; but here, even, 

the entire vein has not 

,, been cross-cut. Throuo:h- 

f'-^mii out the p^ano^ue is distribu- 

ted at intervals, galena of 

a steel-like fracture and 

color, which, on assay, is 

found to be both argenti- 



ferous and auriferous. 
The fluor spar is ordinarily cr3-stalline, and of a 
straw-color, but where cavities occur, there are 




294 GEOLOGY. 

found beautiful cubical crystals of an amethystine 
tint. 

The Southwestern Lead-Region of Mis- 
souri. — The famous Granb}^ Mines are in this 
formation, and in productiveness are probably 
unsurpassed in the United States. They now give 
employment to about 500 miners. The amount 
of mineral raised annually, reaches 10,000,000 
pounds, yielding 7,000,000 pounds of lead.* The 
ore occurs in three zones, the lowest about sixty 
feet beneath the surface, and each zone is capped 
by a layer of chert about eighteen inches in thick- 
ness. Before the war, the annual product of lead- 
ore was not far from four and one-half millions of 
pounds. Zinc, in the form of sulphuret, occurs 
here abundantly, as well as the carbonate; in fact, 
both of these ores accompany galena in its range 
throughout Missouri. In Taney County, however, 
I have observed veins of the silicious carbonate of 
zinc, which, in strength and purity, surpass all 
deposits of the kind which I have observed else- 
where. 

The metalliferous deposits of Mexico are, in 
part, included in heavy masses of limestone which 
have been elevated in rugged ridges, running west 
of north and east of south; and the age of these 

* Parker, "Missouri as it is." 1867. 



COAL-MEASURES. 295 

rocks, according to the best observers, is referable 
to the Carboniferous epoch. 

(<5.) Coal-Measures. — In the whole range of 
rocks which compose the crust of the globe, there 
is no group which contains materials so valuable 
to man as this. Closely as, in the past, coal and 
iron have been identilied with the progress of man, 
they are to be still more closely identified with his 
future triumphs over matter, and with all that per- 
tains to his temporal prosperity. If there is any 
thing which distinguishes this age above all others, 
it is the result of their cooperation in the infinite 
variety of operations performed by machinery, to 
the superseding of human muscles. The steam- 
engine is, perhaps, the most marked example of 
this union; and in the rapidity, precision, and skill 
with which it performs its multifarious tasks, it 
seems to be endowed almost with intelligence,^ — to 
be almost " a thing of life." " Its action is so regu- 
lated, as to make it capable of being applied to the 
finest and most delicate manufactures, and its 
power so increased as to set weight and solidity 
at defiance. It has become a thing stupendous 
alike for its force and flexibility, — for the pro- 
digious power it can exert, and the ease and pre- 
cision and ductility with which that power can be 
varied, distributed, and applied. The trunk of an 
elephant, that can pick up a pin or rend an oak, is 



296 GEOLOGY. 

as nothing to it. It can engrave a seal, and crush 
masses of obdurate metal before it, — draw out, 
without breaking, a thread as fine as gossamer, and 
lift a ship of war like a bauble in the air. It can 
embroider muslin, and forge anchors, — cut steel 
into ribands, and impel loaded vessels against the 
fury of the winds and waves." * 

The benefits which this invention has conferred 
upon the world can not be overestimated. In 
Great Britain it performs the labor of fifty millions 
of men, and in every civilized country it has vastly 
augmented the amount of its productions, and be- 
come the basis of additional wealth and popula- 
tion. It lies at the foundation of an improved and 
more expeditious commercial intercourse, and on 
the land it has annihilated distances. It has become 
a tremendous engine in war, and in peace it has 
armed the feeble hand of man with an instrument 
by which nearly every mechanical process can be 
performed, — and yet it is in its infancy, and each 
year develops new applications. 

In these elements of industrial art — coal and 
iron, — no region is so bountifull}^ supplied as the 
Great Valley. We have already traced the range 
and extent of the iron ores; it remains to trace the 
distribution of the coals. Let any one glance at 
the Geological Map (p. 272), and he will at once 

* Jeffrey. Miscellanies : — " Character of James Watt." 



COAL-MEASURES. 297 

see the vast area over which the Coal-Measures 
constitute the prevaiHng rocks, divided into several 
'distinct fields, and intersected by navigable waters 
by which the products of these fields are made ac- 
cessible to the markets of the Great Valley. Instead 
of lying in basin-shaped depressions as in England, 
where the coal-seams can be approached only by 
deep-penetrating shafts, they range with the enclos- 
ing strata over large areas, and can be mined by 
drifts and adits, driven above the ordinary drainage 
of the country. 

The Alleghany coal-field ranges through 
Western Penns3'lvania and Virginia, Eastern Ohio, 
Kentucky, and Tennessee, and terminates in North- 
ern Alabama. Its area is estimated at 60,000 square 
miles. The assemblage of shales, limestones, and 
sandstones, is estimated at 2,500 or 3,000 feet in 
thickness. The workable seams of coal at Pitts- 
burgh, have an aggregate thickness of 25 {r feet, and 
in Southern Ohio, of 22^ feet. 

The Illinois coal-field occupies about two- 
thirds of the area of that State, and parts of Indi- 
ana and Kentucky. The area is about the same 
as that of the Alleghany coal-field. The thickness 
of the associated rocks is about Soo feet, and of 
the workable scams, in Southern Illinois, 19 feet. 

The Missouri coal-field occupies the north- 
western portion of that State; the eastern portion 



298 GEOLOGY. 

of Kansas; a large area to the north, in Iowa and 
Nebraska; and is protracted south into the Indian 
Territory. Its area is the largest in the United 
States, and even in the world, being not less than 
100,000 square miles. According to Swallow, the 
coal-rocks of Kansas are 2,000 feet thick, and con- 
tain from 12 to 15 feet of workable coal. The 
Upper Measures, so far as we have observed, are 
nearly barren. Isolated patches, outliers of this 
great coal-field, occur on the Arkansas River. 

The Michigan coal-field is extremely shal- 
low, being about 100 feet thick, and extending over 
an area of 5,000 square miles. The coal, for the 
most part, is mined for neighborhood purposes. 

The boundaries of the Texas coal-field, of 
which Fort Belknap is the centre, have been but 
imperfectly defined. It is known to occupy several 
of the northern counties of that State, but it is so 
covered with arenaceous deposits, that its presence 
can only be determined by boring, and the region 
has not become sufficiently populated to render 
such explorations necessary. Coals have been 
mined along the Brazos River for use at Fort 
Belknap, and the seam varies from two to four 
feet. Fossils of the coal-measure limestones have 
been observed by Newberry in the valley of the 
Rio Grande; by Stansbury in the South Pass, and 
at Laramie Ridge; and by Meek and Ha3^den in 



COAL-MEASURES. 299 

the Black Hills. Thus, while, as before remarked, 
the Carboniferous limestones, and even the lime- 
stones of the Coal-Measures, have been observed, 
at frequent intervals, along the entire eastern slope 
of the Rocky Mountains, there is yet to be discov- 
ered, in all that region, a true seam of coal of the 
Carboniferous epoch; and the reason for this is, we 
think, obvious. In the western portion of the 
Great Valley, during this epoch, conditions existed 
which were adverse to its formation; while to the 
east, the waters were shoaling, giving origin to a 
series of lagoons, on whose borders flourished in 
rank luxuriance, developed under a tropical cli- 
mate, and in an atmosphere, perhaps, surcharged 
with carbonic acid gas, a peculiar vegetation, such 
as grasses, yucca-like LiUiacece, and Palms, and 
also Conifen^ and Cycadece. Calamites, some- 
what like our bamboos and rushes, shot up in 
arborescent forms, and the Lycopodiacece^ like our 
club-mosses, assumed tree-like dimensions. Lepi- 
dodendra and SigiUarice, with accurately-arranged 
markings or with fluted trunks, reached sixty feet 
or more in height, while the Stigmarice^ which 
are found ordinarily in the tire-clay beneath the 
coal, have the markings of the Cactus. There 
were, too, tree-like ferns of great variety, astero- 
phyllites with whorl-like leaves, and Araucaria- 
like CouifercB. Such was the vegetation which 



300 GEOLOGY. 

flourished during that period, and which we now 
employ, consolidated into coal, to warm our dwell- 
ings, to light our cities, and to propel our machin- 
ery."^ 

As the region rose and fell, the torrents swept in 
their silts of sand, mud, and clay, now consolidated 
into sandstones, shales, and slates; and when the 
ocean invaded the land, limestones were formed 
by precipitation, enclosing forms of animal life 
exclusively marine. In all the Western coal-fields, 
the alternate dominion of land and water is clearly 
indicated by the character of the organic remains. 
While such conditions existed to the East; on the 
other hand, to the West, stretched out an ocean 

* The shales which overlie our coal-seams often contain, in great 
perfection, the most delicate forms of these vegetable structures. 
Buckland (Bridgewater Treatises, Geology,) thus describes the roof 
of a coal-mine in Bohemia: 

"The most elaborate imitations of living foliage upon the painted 
ceilings of Italian palaces, bear no comparison with the beauteous 
profusion of extinct vegetable forms with which the galleries of these 
instructive coal-mines are overhung. The roof is covered with a 
canopy of gorgeous tapestry, enriched with festoons of most graceful 
foliage, flung in wild, irregular profusion over every portion of its 
surface. The effect is heightened by the contrast of the coal-black 
color of these vegetables, with the light ground-work of the rock to 
which they are attached. The spectator feels himself transported, as 
if by enchantment, into the forests of another world ; he beholds trees, 
of forms and characters now unknown upon the surface of the earth, 
presented to his senses almost in the beauty and vigor of their pri- 
meval life; their scaly stems and bending branches, with their deli- 
cate apparatus of foliage, all spread out before him, little impaired 
by the lapse of countless ages, and bearing faithful records of extinct 
systems of vegetation, which began and terminated in times of which 
these relics are infallible historians." 



COAL-MEASURES. 30I 

with no visible shores, whose waters were tenanted 
only by marine forms, and upon whose floor only 
limestone sediments were deposited. Fanciful as 
these speculations may seem, they become of prac- 
tical utility in discussing the great routes of con- 
tinental and oceanic communication. They are 
questions which come home, as Bacon has said, 
" to men's business and bosoms." 

The coals derived from these different fields, and 
even from the different seams, and, it may be said, 
from different parts of the same seam, are far from 
being- uniform in character. The anthracites are 
restricted to the eastern slope of the Alleghanies, 
where metamorphic action has been most manifest, 
which is supposed to have driven off the greater 
portion of the volatile materials. The semi-bitu- 
minous coals next succeed, where that action has 
been less marked; and finally, where it has been 
but feebly exerted, we have the fatty, bituminous 
coals. 

The most valuable coals, perhaps, thus far devel- 
oped on the western slope of the Alleghanies, are 
those of Northern Ohio and Northwestern Penn- 
S3'lvania, derived from the lowest seam in the 
series, and known as Brier Hill or Ormsby. It is 
a splint coal, so thoroughly compacted as to bear 
repeated handling and distant transportation, and is 
capable of sustaining the burden of a furnace with- 



^ 



302 GEOLOGY. 

out crushing. It contains from 62 to 64 per cent, of 
fixed carbon; from 2 or 3 per cent, of hygrometric 
moisture; from t^t, to 35 per cent, of volatile com- 
bustible matter; and less than 3 per cent, of ash, 
nearly white. While valuable as a domestic fuel 
by reason of its freedom from sulphur, its inflam- 
mability, its small amount of ash, and its disposi- 
tion not to agglutinate or give off an excess of 
sooty matter; its preeminent merit is that, in a 
crude state, it is an iron-making coal; and hence in 
the Mahoning and Shenango Valleys, the facilities 
for iron-smelting are almost unsurpassed. Within 
a few years, a coal, having similar properties, has 
been developed in the vicinity of Brazil, Indiana, 
and has been applied to the same purposes. This 
is the lowest seam in the Illinois coal-field. 

More recently, in the vicinity of Chester, Illinois, 
an iron-making coal has been discovered, which 
will be made available in reducing the immense 
deposits of specular and magnetic iron of Missouri; 
and a coal having similar properties, is said to have 
been reached by a shaft near Springfield. We dis- 
covered, some years ago, a coal having similar 
properties in Iowa, west of the Des Moines River, 
but it is too remote from the iron-ores to be made 
available. 

The Pittsburgh coals, which include those of the 
Monongehala and Youghiogheny, rank deservedly 



COAL-MEASURES. 303 

high. They contain more gaseous matter, and are, 
therefore, unavailable for iron-making, without 
undergoing the preliminary process of coking. 
The coals of Southern Ohio are equally good; 
those of Central Ohio, about Zanesville, are so 
fatty as to agglutinate in burning, and are excellent 
for coking. 

The coals of Northern Illinois are ordinarily 
highly charged with water, often containing as high 
as 12 per cent., and are so sulphurous as to disin- 
tegrate on exposure to the atmosphere. Still they 
are extensively mined for domestic fuel, and for 
generating steam in stationary engines and loco- 
motives. 

The Kansas coals have not been developed suffi- 
ciently to show their true character. The Burlin- 
game coal, near the upper portion of the Measures, 
shows impurities such as appertain to those of 
Northern Illinois, but the seams in the lower por- 
tion, which come to the surface in the southeastern 
part of the State, are said to be of considerable 
thickness (7 feet), and the coal is of an excellent 
quality. 

Apart from coal, other economic materials exist. 
The brine-springs of Western Pennsylvania and 
Virginia, and of Southern Ohio and Eastern Kan- 
sas, have their reservoirs at the base of this group. 
The manufacture of salt has been prosecuted for 



304 GEOLOGY. 

many years, and in the older States, has proved a 
source of great revenue to the respective regions. 
The impure carbonates of iron abound in the 
Alleghany coal-field, but in those w^hich lie farther 
west, few productive beds have been observed. 

Permian System. — This series of rocks is want- 
ing in the older States, and is by no means abund- 
antly developed in the Mississippi Valle3\ The 
existence of these rocks was first made known by 
Swallow, and were observed by him near Fort 
Riley, on the Kaw River of Kansas. Here they 
consist of a series of drab and dove-colored lime- 
stones, with intercalated marls and shales, vari- 
ousl3'-colored red, green, and grey, with gypsum- 
beds more or less abundant. They flank the west- 
ern outcrop of the Coal-Measures, which here dip 
northwest, and rest conformably upon them. As the 
lower portion is made up of transition beds, clearly 
indicating gradually-changing conditions in the 
character of the sediments and of organic forms, 
it becomes difficult to draw the line where the 
Carboniferous ceases and the Permian besfins. 

Near Manhattan, a limestone is quarried from 
this series for architectural purposes, which is so 
soft that it may be sawed with a hand-saw, and 
planed with a jack-plane, and yet is very durable. 
It is the cheapest material of which the pioneer can 



TRIASSIC AND JURASSIC SERIES. 305 

construct his house — cheaper even than it would 
be to resort to the forest, if such existed, for logs. 
Hayden notices the occurrence of a similar lime- 
stone, and belonging to the same age, in Ne- 
braska. 

In passing up the valley of the Kaw, in the 
vicinity of Fort Riley, these rocks are seen lining 
the bluffs which attain a height of 250 feet. The 
unequal power to resist the weathering effects of 
the atmosphere, causes the more enduring strata to 
stand out in bold relief; and, as their inclination is 
very slight, the bluffs for miles have the appearance 
of being crowned with Titanic walls which con- 
form to all the curvatures of the ravines. Hayden 
has identified the extension of these rocks into 
Nebraska; Shumard recognizes their existence in 
the Gaudalupe Mountains of Texas; and Meek 
and Hayden in the Black Hills, and the Big-Horn 
Mountains. 

Triassic and Jurassic Series. — These rocks 
have hitherto occupied a subordinate place in the 
the text-books of American geolog}', but recent 
explorations on the Pacific Coast show that they 
are widel}^ developed, and enter largely into the 
orographical features of this continent. It is not 
improbable that they will be found coterminous 
with the whole Rock}' Mountain sj'stem, flanking 
20 



3o6 GEOLOGY. 

the great granitic masses, and proving the main 
repositories of the precious metals. 

The sandstones and intercalated traps which fill 
the lower valley of the Connecticut, belong to this 
series, and from thence it is traced, in inter- 
rupted ranges, through New Jersey, Pennsylvania, 
Virginia, and North Carolina. It is supposed that 
these rocks represent both of the great division^, 
Jurassic and Triassic; but it has been found 
impossible to draw the line of demarcation be- 
tween them, and in the Mississippi Valley the 
same difficulty exists. 

Above the Permian, in Kansas, Swallow ob- 
served a series of variegated sandstpnes and marls 
which he assigns to the Trias. In the Colorado 
Valley, Newberry saw a series of marls, 2,000 feet 
thick, but destitute of fossils, interposed between 
the Carboniferous and Cretaceous systems, which he 
reo^ards as Triassic. Occurring at the Black Hills 
of Dakota and at the Red Buttes, on the North 
Platte, Meek and Hayden describe beds subordi- 
nate to the Jurassic, which probably belong to the 
Trias; and they subsequently recognized this 
formation along the eastern slope of the Laramie, 
Big-Horn, and Wind-River Mountains. 

The Upper Trias, according to Le Conte, is 
exposed in the deepest part of Purgatoire Cailon, 
and also farther south, near the Sandia Mountains, 



TRIASSIC AND JURASSIC SERIES. 307 

and along the Rio Grande. Triassic rocks also 
occupy a broad belt in Nevada, extending from the 
meridian 117°, west to the California boundary. 

But the development of this system, or rather the 
Triassic, in all of its importance, is the result of the 
California Geological Survey. The generalizations 
brought out are of the most striking character, and 
such as to afford us a clue to unravel the agfe of the 
auriferous deposits of the Rocky Mountains. The 
palseontological evidence w^ould indicate that these 
rocks are equivalent to the Upper Trias, or the 
Hallstadt limestone of the Austrian Alps — a group 
of rocks which, up to a recent time, was thought to 
be barren of organic forms, but which, under the 
auspices of the Austrian Survey, has added 800 
specimens of Radiates and Mollusks to the fauna 
of this epoch. 

" This great Triassic belt of the Pacific Coast," according 
to Whitney, " has been explored by the Surveys in the hititude 
of 40°, and over a width, east and west, of nearly four degrees 
of longitude (117° to 120°). * * [Triassic fossils have 
been collected] from the three parallel ranges in longitude 117° 
to 118° in Nevada TeiTitory, known as the Humboldt Moun- 
tains, or the Humboldt mining region, and from localities in 
Plumas County, California. But sufficient palaeontological 
evidence has been obtained to enable us to state, that this 
formation extends from Mexico to British Columbia, and that 
it occupies a vast area, although much broken up, interrupted 
by eruptive rocks, and covered in many places by heavy accu- 
mulations of volcanic materials." * 

* Palaeontology of California." Vol. I. 



3o8 GEOLOGY. 

The gold-bearing rocks of California con- 
sist of metamorphic sandstones, with intercalated 
beds of quartz, in which the gold is segregated. 
The beds almost invariably have the same range 
and dip as the associated rocks, and are not, there- 
fore, true fissure-veins. The strike of the rocks is 
pretty uniform, being about north 30° west, except 
where they have been disturbed by volcanic out- 
bursts, subsequent to their first uplift. As you 
ascend to the High Sierra, the crests are found to 
consist of great masses of granite, often dome- 
shaped, whose culminating points reach 15,000 feet 
above the sea, constituting, as conjectured by 
Whitney, the highest land in the United States. 
While gold is not absent in these igneous rocks, 
it has not been found profitable to mine it.* 

The copper-bearing rocks of California 
are of the same age, and occupy the western flanks 

* The product of this series of rocks, in the precious metals, is esti- 
mated by Ross Brown for the year 1S67 (Mineral Resources of the 
United States), at $75,000,000, apportioned as follows: 

California, --------- $25,000,000 

Nevada, ----.-..- 20,000,000 

Montana, ----..--. 12,000.000 

Idaho, ---------- 6,500,000 

Washington, --------- 1,000.000 

Oregon, ----.-.-_ 2,000,000 

Colorado, -.......- 2,500.000 

New Mexico, .--..__. 500.000 

Arizona, ---....... 500,000 

Unknown Sources, .--.--- 5,000,000 

$75,000,000 



TRIASSIC SERIES. 309 

of the Sierra. The copper, which appears mainly 
as a sulphuret, is segregated in beds which are 
included in chlorite and talcose slates. In the 
vicinity of Copperopolis, they have been exten- 
sively mined, and the monthly product has been 
known to exceed 3,000 tons of ore. In 1864, the 
shipments from San Francisco reached 14,315 tons, 
valued at $1,094,660. The excessive cost of trans- 
portation to the coast, and the absence of a supply of 
proper fuel by which to reduce the ores to a matte, 
operate adversely to copper-mining, so that only the 
richer ores are selected. Besides, the fall in the 
price of copper the world over, has caused the 
export almost entirely to cease. 

Remond, before quoted, has shown that the Sierra 
Madre of Northern Mexico, is similar In geological 
structure to the Sierra Nevada. The Triassic rocks 
of Sonora consist of heavy beds of quartzite and 
conglomerate, with coal-bearing shales, and rest 
on greenstones, porphyries, and granites. Wher- 
ever metamorphosed, they are both auriferous and 
argentiferous. 

These observations show that, during this epoch, 
both Europe and the United States were convulsed, 
and the dynamical forces were such as to lift up 
some of the most stupendous mountain chains to 
be found on the surface of our planet. 



3IO GEOLOGY. 

Cretaceous System. — The three great axial lines 
which determine the contour of the Mississippi 
Valley, had assumed their form and direction before 
these deposits, exceeding in places 2,000 feet in 
thickness, had been made in the Cretaceous sea. 
The boundaries of that sea may be described as 
follows: There were entering bays along the 
Atlantic Coast from New Jersey to North Caro- 
lina. The sea washed the southern flanks of the 
Alleghanies, and formed an estuary which pene- 
trated inland as far as the mouth of the Ohio. It 
swept round the southern portion of the North- 
western coal-field, extending south into Mexico, 
and north beyond the limits of the United States. 
All that portion of the country lying between Cen- 
tral Kansas and the eastern slope of the Rocky 
Mountains was open water. On the Pacific side, 
the Cretaceous sea washed the base of the Sierra 
Nevada, extended up the valley of the Colorado, 
and even penetrated the Great Basin. There is no 
one formation in the United States, which is so 
widely distributed. The beds of this series in New 
Jersey attain a thickness of only 400 feet, while 
on the Upper Missouri, they reach 2,500. 

To Meek and Ha37den we are mainly indebted 
for a thoroug-h investio^ation of the Cretaceous 
Strata of the Upper Missouri, which they have 
grouped in the following order: 



CRETACEOUS SYSTEM. 



311 



SECTION OF THE CRETACEOUS ROCKS OF THE UPPER 

MISSOURI. 



Upper Series. — Gray, ferruginous and yel- ~) 
lowish sandstones, and arenaceous clays, con- 
taining Belemnitella bulbosa, JVnutilus dekayi. 
Ammonites placenta^ A. lohatus, Scaf/iiies con- 
radi, S. nicollet, Baculites ffrandis, Busycon 
bairdi, Fiisiis culherlsoni, F. ni'-.vhcrryiy Apor- \ 
rliais americaua^Psetido-hucciHum ncbrascencis, 
Mactra 7uaryenana, Cardium subqtiadratum, 
and a great number of other molluscous fossils, 
togetlier with bones of Mosasaurus missouri.en- 
sis. 1 



Fox-Hill Beds, No. 5. — Fox- 
Hills, near Moreau River; near 
Long Lake; above Fort Pierre; 
along base of Big-Horn Moun- 
tains; and on Nortli and South 
Platte Rivers. 

Thickness, 500 feet. 



Dark-gray and bluish plastic clays, containing ~) 
near tlie upper part. Nautilus dekayi, Ammo- 
nites placenta, Baculites ovaius. B.compressus, 
Scaphites noJosus, Dentalium ffracile, Crassa- 
tella eva7isi, Cucullcea nebrascencis, Inoceramus 
sagcnsis, I. nebrascensis, I. vanttxemi ; also, 
bones of Mosasaurus inissouriensis, etc. 

Middle Zone nearly barren of fossils. 

Lower fossiliferous Zone, containing Ammo- 
nites complexus, Baculites ovatus, B. compres- 
sus, Hdicoceras mortoni, H. tortum, JI. umbili- 
catum, H. cochleatum, Ptychoceras mortoni, 
Fusus viticulum, Anisomyon borealis, Amat/r- 
opsis paludiniformis, Inoceramus snbulatus, 
I. tenuilineatus ; also, bones of Mosasaurus 
inissouriensis. etc. 



Dark bed of very fine unctuous clay, contain- 
ing much carbonaceous matter, with veins and 
seams of gypsum, masses of sulphuret of iron, 
and numerous small scales of Fishes, local, till- 
ing depressions in tlie bed below. 



Fort PifeRRE Group, No. 4. — 
Sage Creek; Cheyenne River, and 
on White River; above the Mau- 
vaises Terres, Fort Pierre, and 
out to Bad Lands ; down tlie Mis- 
souri, on the high country, to 
Great Bend. 



Great Bend of tlie Missouri, 
below Fort Pierre. 



Near Bijou Hill, on the Mis- 
souri. 



Thickness, 700 feet. 



Lower Series. — Lead-gray calcareous marl, 
weathering to a yellowish or whitish chalky 
appearance above, containing large scales and 
other remains of Fislies, and numerous species 
of Ostrea congesta attached to fragments of 
Inoceramus, passing down into light-yellowish 
and whitish limestone, containing great ninn- 
bers of Inoceramus problematicus, I. pseudo- 
mytiloides, I. aviculoides, and Ostrea congesta ; 
Fish Scales, etc. 



Niobrara Division, No. 3. — 
Bluff's along the Missouri, above 
the Great Bend, to the vicinity of 
the Big Sioux River; also below 
there, and on the tops of the hills. 

Thickness, 200 feet. 



Dark-gray laminated clays, sometimes alter- ^ 
nating, near the upper part, with seams and 
layers of soft gray and light-colored limestones, 
Inoceramus problematic us, I. tenuirostratus, 
I.latus'i I. Jragilis, Ostrea congesta, Venilia 
mortoni, Pholadomya papyracea. Ammonites 
mullani, A. percerinatus, A. vespertinus, Sea- 
pkites Tvarreni, S. larvceformis, S. ventricostts, \ 
S. vermiformis. Nautilus elegans, etc. -^ 



Fort Benton Group, No. 2. — 
Extensively developed near Fort 
Benton, on tlie Ujiper Missouri; 
also alotig the latter, from ten 
miles above James River to Big 
Sioux River, and along the eastern 
slope of the Rocky Mountains, as 
well as at the Black Hills. 

Thickness, 870 feet. 



Yellowish, reddish, and occasionally white 
sandstone, with, at places, alternations of va- 
rious colored clays, and beds and seams of im- 
pure lignite; also, silicified wood, and great 
numbers of leaves of the higher types of dico- 
tyledonous trees, with casts of Pharella? dako- 
tensis, Axinea siouxensis, and Caprina arena- 
rea, 

\ 



Dakota Group, No. i. — Hills 

back of the town of Dakota; also 
extensively developed in the sur- 
rounding country in Dakota Coun- 
ty, below the mouth of the Big 
Sioux River, thence extending 
southward into Northeastern Kan- 
sas and beyond. Thickness, 400 ft. 



312 GEOLOGY. 

The Cretaceous strata of this countr}^, notwith- 
standing their extraordinary development, are, in 
position, above the Older Cretaceous beds of 
Europe. 

The Lower series is the equivalent of the Lower, 
or Grey chalk and Upper green-sand of British 
geologists; while the Upper series is the equiva- 
lent of the Upper or White chalk and Maestricht 
beds. 

The Cretaceous rocks, if the more recently 
formed Tertiary strata were removed, would prob- 
ably be found every where abutting against the 
first- formed strata of the Rocky Mountains, but 
there are places where they have been disturbed 
by more recent volcanic eruptions. At the Raton 
Pass, the eruptive rocks have broken through 
the lower and middle series, which for a long dis- 
tance form a very conspicuous terrace. Inter- 
calated- with these strata, are beds of coal of suffi- 
cient thickness and purity to prove of great 
economical value. In the Raton Pass, they are 
eight feet thick, and lie horizontally, and in Ver- 
mejo Canon, they reach ten feet. Forts Lyon 
and Union are supplied with fuel from these 
sources. Near Tijeras and west of Los Lunas, 
and also east of Don Pedro, near the Rio Grande, 
and in San Lagaro Hill, twenty-five miles west of 
Santa Fe, coal has been observed, and at the latter 



CRETACEOUS SERIES. 313 

place it forms a very pure anthracite, the metamor- 
phism being due to a trachytic overflow. (Le 
Conte.) Similar deposits have been observed in 
the Puerco Valley, and also in those of San Jose 
and Ojo Pescado, showing an extension of the coals 
two hundred miles west of the Rio Grande, and in 
many instances the igneous protrusions have con- 
verted them into anthracite. (Parry.) 

The Coast Ranges of the Pacific are made up 
largely of Cretaceous and Miocine-Tertiary strata. 
They are, at numerous points, invaded by igneous 
products which have not only tilted them up at 
high angles, but metamorphosed them into jaspery 
materials, obliterating every trace of organic life. 
Like the same formations on the eastern slope of 
the Rocky Mountains, there are intercalations of 
valuable seams of coal; and to this epoch may be 
referred the deposits of Mount Diablo, near San 
Francisco; of Bellingham Bay, in Washington 
Territory; of Nanaimo, on Vancouver's Island; 
and those along the shores of the Straits of Fuca 
and Puget's Sound. All of these coals are soft, 
are charged with a large percentage of water, and 
are apt to exfoliate on exposure to the air. They 
contain not to exceed 45 per cent, of fixed carbon, 
and are, therefore, unfit for use where a strong, 
concentrated heat is required. 

The Coast Ranges are not destitute ot metallic 



314 GEOLOGY. 

wealth. It is claimed, even, that the rocks are 
sparingly impregnated with gold; but quicksilver, 
in the form of cinnabar, is found at several points. 
The most productive mines, however, are at 
New Almaden, where the yearly product reaches 
3,000,000 pounds. The supply is far in excess of 
the wants of the mining community, and the sur- 
plus is shipped to China and the South American 
States. The ores occupy a series of irregular 
cavities, mostly confined within a space of one hun- 
dred and fifty feet square, and extending down- 
wards for about four hundred feet, — dipping to the 
north at an angle of 30° to 35°, — and the cavities 
are scattered through the enclosing mass without 
any approach to regularity. * 

All the way, according to the California Survey, 
between Fort Tejon and Fort Reading, along the 
foot-hills of the Sierra, are to be seen, except where 
removed by denudation, strata of Marine-Tertiary 
and Cretaceous, reposing in a horizontal position 
upon the upturned edges of the auriferous slates. 
In the vicinity of Shasta, however, which, as before 
remarked, is a volcanic cone of extremely recent 
origin, both of these formations have been dis- 
turbed, — the result of this uplift, — but there is 
little doubt that they were once continuous across 
the valleys of San Joaquin and Sacramento, to the 

* Whitney. " Geological Survey of California." P. 69. 



CRETACEOUS SERIES. 315 



Pacific Ocean; on the one hand, exhibiting striking 
evidences of metamorphism, and on the other, 
reposing, for the most part, in an undisturbed 
position. 

According to Gabb, the Cretaceous of California 
is represented but by a single member of this for- 
mation, corresponding with the Fort Pierre group, 
or No. 4, of Meek and Hayden. The peninsula of 
California may belong to the same group, although, 
on the authorit}' last quoted, it is regarded as an 
open question. 

In Northern Mexico, as we have seen, the Cre- 
taceous strata occupy the same relation to the 
Sierra Madre that they do to the Sierra Nevada. 

The close of the Cretaceous epoch would seem 
to indicate an important change in the history of 
the earth's progress towards the condition of affairs 
which we now behold. Whilst organic forms 
were represented by the four great divisions of the 
animal kingdom; still, the condition of the globe 
seems to have been unfitted for the introduction 
and sustenance of the warm-blooded animals, such 
as now roam over its surface, although there are a 
few exceptions to this general rule. The Creta- 
ceous period was emphatically the age of reptiles. 
Immense saurians swarmed the seas, and winged 
lizards, known to us as pterodactyles, cleft the 
air. The vegetable remains, in this country, show 



3l6 GEOLOGY. 

a near approach to existing forms. These consist 
of dicotyledonous plants, among which Newberry 
identifies species belonging to the genera Populus 
(poplar); Salix (willow); Alnus (alder); Pla- 
tanus (sycamore) ; Liriodendron (tulip) ; Ficus 
(fig-tree), and others; and European botanists, 
while admitting the Cretaceous age of the Ne- 
braska flora, unequivocally assert that it is closely 
allied to that of the Miocine-Tertiary of the Eastern 
Continent. 

In the following table, are given the results of 
the analyses of coals from the difierent formations 
in the United States, by which it will be seen, that 
while those of the recent epochs are more highly 
charged with water, and contain less fixed carbon, 
which is the heating power, they are yet of great 
economical value. 



CRETACEOUS SERIES. 



317 



ANALTSES OF COALS. 



DESIGNATION. 



CARBONIFEROUS. 
Brier Hill, Ohio 

Marietta Run, Ohio (Upper) 

" " " (Lower) 

Pittsburgh, Pa 

YOUGHIOGHENY, Pa 

Ormsby, Pa 

Greenup County, Ky. (Cannel) 

" " " (Lower Scam). 

Brazil, Ind 

Chester, III., Layer No. 1,201 



2, 14 1. 

3, 2' i- 

4, iS i 

5, 16 i. 



Du QiToiN, 111 

LaSalle, III. (Upper) 

" (Middle) 

" " (Lower) 

Ottumwa, Iowa 

Hillsborough, Iowa 

Farmington, " 

New Buffalo, " 

Cote sans dessein.. Mo 

Callaway County, " 

Johnson County, Ark 

TRIASSIC AND JURASSIC. 

Chesterfield, Va 

Richmond Coal 

m i d loti 1 1 an 

Stonehenge 

Coalbrook Dale 



CRETACEOUS. 
Mount Dioh/o, California. 

Clark's Mine 

Black Diamond 

Cumberland 

Peacock 

Corral Hollow 

Bellingiiam Bay, W. T 

Nanaimo, " 



O 3 



2.40 
3.20 

3. So 

2-34 
1.00 
4.00 
2.00 

i'3 

6.17 
6.31 
7 -SO 
9-25 
6.22 
S.47 
7.00 
10.00 
10.00 
10.00 



7.92 
8.62 
313 



1347 
14.69 
13.S4 
14-13 
20-53 
8.39 



MIOCINE-TERTIARY. 

Coos Bay, Oregon 

Bellemonte, Colorado 



67.60 
54 -6 1 
S3-SO 
55 -S2 
58.40 
66.56 
56.01 
29.14 

59-17 
62.7s 
50.00 
46.66 

6' -57 
56.24 
61.20 
55 -00 
54.60 
56.00 
59-So 
46.76 
47.42 
49 oS 
50.81 
50.7s 
51.16 



80.30 

59-25 
61 .oS 
58-70 
66.48 



40.65 

46.S4 
44.92 
44-55 
36-35 
45-69 



41-98 
48.36 






28 .00 

36.80 

39-68 
34-31 
35-00 
26.93 

37-89 
61.29 
33->6 
2S.68 
40.62 
29.50 
26.50 
25.28 
2S.60 
27.40 
27.40 
25.20 
22.60 

41-74 
38.0S 

38.77 
34.06 
34.20 
43-50 



9-98 
32.00 
28.45 
36-50 
29.00 



40.36 

33-89 
40.27 
37-38 
35-62 
33-26 



3259 
47.00 



2.00 

5-39 
2.72 
7.16 
5 -60 
2.50 
4.10 
8.42 
1.50 
2.25 
1. 87 

S-I2 

5 -30 
10.00 
3-20 

7.60 
S.oo 
8. So 
6.40 
3-58 
5-88 
9.02 

15-13 

15.02 

5-34 



9-72 
8-75 
10.47 
4.80 
4-52 



55? 
4-58 
0.97 
3-94 
7-50 
12.66 



S-34 
4.64 



Blaney. 



Chilton. 
Peters. 
Blaney. 
Hayes. 

Blaney. 



Whitney 

Chilton. 
Frazer. 



RoEfers. 

Andreas. 

Johnson, 

Rogers. 



Whitney. 



Whitney. 
Kent. 



CHAPTER X. 

GEOLOGY (^Continued:), SEDIMENTARY ROCKS. 

TERTIARY SYSTEM MARINE OF THE ATLANTIC SLOPE 

FRESH- WATER OF THE MISSOURI BASIN MARINE OF THE 

PACIFIC COAST ECONOMIC VALUE OF THE TERTIARY 

COALS IGNEOUS PRODUCTS OF THE GREAT BASIN COM- 

STOCK LODE AND ITS YIELD IN SILVER DRIFT-EPOCH 

DRIFT-ACTION IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY EROSIVE 

ACTION ON THE PACIFIC SLOPE AND IN THE COLORADO PLA- 
TEAU TERRACES OF MODIFIED DRIFT LOESS SAND- 
DUNES THE GREAT LAKES DRIFT-PHENOMENA IN THEIR 

BASINS DENUDATION, AREA, DEPTH, AND ELEVATION 

RESUME. 

The Tertiary System. — The organic remains en- 
tombed in this series of strata, inaugurate an epoch 
when the forms of animal and vegetable life begin to 
approach nearer to existing species. In fact, many 
of the forms which tenanted the seas of that age 
are identical with those now living, and the abor- 
escent vegetation was not unlike that of the sub- 
tropical latitudes of this day. We, too, have evi- 
dence of the existence of large fresh- water deposits, 
and consequently of the proximity of large areas 



TERTIARY SERIES. 319 

of dry land. The Tertiary deposits are widely dis- 
tributed throughout the United States, and are both 
of marine and fresh-water origin. 

The marine strata occur in the immediate 
valley of the Lower Mississippi, above its junction 
with the Ohio Valley, and along the Texas, Gulf, 
and Atlantic Coasts, as far as Richmond, Virginia; 
and patches are found, even, as far north as Mar- 
tha's Vineyard. Lignite beds occur inland, as at 
Brandon, Vermont, and at other points. 

What are known as the Pine Barrens, in the 
Southern States, is a belt of country more than 
1,700 miles long, and often 170 miles broad, 
stretching from Richmond, along the Atlantic and 
Gulf Coasts, to beyond the western line of Louisi- 
ana, where the soil, derived from the decomposi- 
tion of the newest member of the Tertiary series, 
is sandy, and where the principal arborescent form 
is the long-leaf pine {^Pinus palustris). It is em- 
phatically the " poor man's region." These forests, 
while affording a valuable article of lumber, also 
yield pitch, tar, and turpentine. 

In this series, three epochs have been recognized. 
I. The Claiborne beds of Alabama, and those 
of Jackson and Vicksburgh, Mississippi, which 
are referred to the oldest, or Eocine. 2. Those 
of YoRKTOWN, Virginia, to the middle, or J/2<?6'/«£?. 



320 GEOLOGY. 

And 3. Those of Sumter and Darlington, to the 
newest, or Pliocine. * 

According to Hilgard's general section, the com- 
bined Tertiary series, embracing the Northern Lig- 
nite, the Claiborne, Jackson, Vicksburgh, and 
Grand-Gulf groups, have a thickness of more than 
750 feet, f The most interesting fossil, perhaps, 
in the whole series, is that from the Jackson group, 
known as the Zeuglodon cetoides, a marine animal 
of the whale tribe, which resembled the sau- 
rians in shape, and attained a length of seventy 
feet. 

On the Atlantic Coast, the rocks which compose 
this series, are variable in character, — consisting at 
times of beds of sand and clay; at other localities, 
of compact sandstones; at others, of calcareous 
sandstones and shell-beds; and in South Carolina 
occurs a cellular Buhr-stone, adapted to mill-stones. 
The cla3^s and sands often contain lignite and 
hsematitic iron-ore in such quantities as to be of 
economic value; and the clays are of sufficient 
purity to make fire-brick, and, when washed, are 

* These three divisions were established bj Ljell : Pliocine, because 
the major part of the fossil testacea of this epoch are i-eferable to exist- 
ing species; Mioci?ie, because a minor part only of the species 
is referable to existing forms ; and Eociiie, because in this forma- 
tion, we recognize the dawn of forms allied to existing species. 

t "Geology of Mississippi," p. 108. 



TERTIARY SERIES. 32 1 

of such whiteness as to be used in giving opacity 
to writing paper. 

The northern limits of the Marine-Tertiary do 
not appear to have extended far up the Ohio Val- 
leyj but in Pulaski County, Illinois, Worthen found 
marine shells of the genus CnciiUcea and Turri- 
tella^ in a green-sand, and a shark's tooth, near 
Caladonia, where there is a thin bed of lignite at 
low-water mark in the Ohio River. The hills in 
Southern Illinois are capped occasionally with beds 
of ferruginous conglomerate, which may be referred 
to this age. A few miles west of St. Louis, at 
Webster station, Mr. Freeman has latel}' obtained 
specimens of that peculiar American shell, now 
inhabiting the Gulf of Mexico, known as Giiatlio- 
do?i, and Worthen has collected detached sharks' 
teeth at Warsaw, and near the mouth of Skunk 
River, Iowa. 

Fresh-water Tertiary strata. — These are 
largely developed in the region lying between the 
Missouri River and the Rocky Mountains, and 
even penetrate the Great Basin. They have been 
carefully studied by Meek and Hayden, who find 
that the}' are referable to four distinct periods, indi- 
cated by the entombed organic remains. Their 
classification is as follows: 
21 



322 



GEOLOGY. 



GENERAL SECTION OF THE TERTIART 

MISSOURI. 



ROCKS OF THE UPPER 



SUBDIVISIONS. 



THICK- 
NESS. 



LOCALITIES. 



FOREIGN 

EqjL'IVA- 



Fine, loose sand, with some 
layers of limestone ; contains 
bnnes of Catiis (do^), Felis (cat), 
Castor (beaver), Eqiius (horse), 
Mastodon and Elephas (elephant), 
Testudo (tort'^ise), etc., some of 
wliicli are scarcely distinguisha- 
ble from living species ; also, 
shells of the genera Helix, Pliysa, 
and Siiccinea, probably of recent 
species. All fresh-water and land 
types. 



On Loup -Fork of 
Platte River, extend- 
ing north to Niobrara 
Kiver, and south to an 
unkno\vn distance be- 
yond tlie Platte. 



PiS 



SO 



f- White and light-drab clays, with 
\ some beds of sandstone, and local 
I limt'Stone. ^lammalian fossils: 
1 Oreodon, Titanotherium, CIkei-o- 
I potaiiius, Rhinoceros, Anchithe- 
J rium, Hyamonodon, Machairo- 
dus. Reptilian : Trionyx, Testu- 
do. Shells (fresh water) : Helix, 
Planorhis a.ni\Eiinnea. Petrified 
wood, etc. All extinct. No brack- 
(_ ish water or marine remains. 



Bad Lands of White 
River, under the Loup- 
River bed ; on the X io- 
brara; and across tlie 
country to the Platte. 



> i- 



Light-gray and ash-colored 
sandstones, with more or less 
argillaceous layers. Fossils : 
Fragments of Trionyx, Testudo, 
witii large specimens of Helix, 
Vivipararus, Petrified wood, etc. 
No marine or brackisli water 
types. 



Wind-River Valley; 
also west of Wind- 
River Mountains. 



zQ 






Beds of clay and sand, with 
round ferruginous concretions, 
and numerous beds, seams, and 
local deposits of lignite. Great 
numbers of dicotyledonous leaves, 
stems, etc., of the genera Plata- 
ntis, Acer, Ulmiis, Populus, etc., 
with very large leaves of true Ean- 
Palms. Also, fresh or brackish 
water shells of the genera Helix, 
Melania, Vivipararus, Corhicula, 
Unio, Ostrea, Potamomya ; and 
scales of fishes, LepidoUis ; with 
reptilian bones of Trionyx, Emys, 
Compsemys, Crocodilus, etc 



Occupies the whole 
country round Fort 
Union, extending 

north into the British 
Possessions to un- 
known distances ; also 
southward to Fort 
Clark; seen under the 
White -River group, 
on the North Platte 
River, above F'ort La- 
ramie; also on west 
side of Wind -River 
Mountains. 



TERTIARY SERIES. 323 

We shall describe this series in the descending: 
order, in accordance with this classification. 

1. The Loup-River group. — This group yields 
no economic materials, but the entombed mamma- 
lian remains, as determined by Leidy, are of strik- 
ing interest. Among them may be enumerated 
three species of the camel, a rhinoceros, a masto- 
don smaller than the M. ohioticiis^ an elephant 
i^Elephas imp era tor) a third larger than the 
Elephas aniericanics, four or five species of the 
horse, and a deer allied to the musk-deer of 
Europe, — all extinct. It is singular, that while 
there was no living representative of the equine or 
horse tribe on this Continent when first known to 
the European, there should be found not less than 
seventeen species in a fossil state, some of them 
having teeth not distinguishable from the living 
species. Prof. Marsh has lately described a fossil 
horse from the region of Nebraska (^Equus par- 
V III lis), which could not have been more than two 
or two and one-half feet in height, although full 
ofrown, as the ossification of the various bones 
clearly proves. * 

2. White-River group. — On the White River 
there are fresh-water beds of drab-colored clays, 
and bands of sandstone and limestone, w^hich have 
been denuded and left standing in a thousand fan- 

* O. C. Marsh. Silliman's •'American Journal," Nov., 1S6S. 



324 GEOLOGY. 

tastic and irregular forms, so that, viewed at a dis- 
tance, they resemble the ruins of a mighty city, or 
more appropriately, the tombstones in a vast ceme- 
tery. * And such it has proved; for in these 
deposits are entombed some of the most wonderful 
forms of extinct life that have been revealed to the 
gaze of the palaeontologist. The orders Mammalia 
and Chelonia are largely represented. Not less 
than forty species of the former, and five species 
of the latter, have been discovered. The mamma- 
lian remains include Carnivores, like the h3-ena, 
dog, and panther; and Herbivores, like the rhinoc- 
eros, and animals allied to the tapir, peccary, deer, 
camel, and horse. 

Many of these extinct forms have the most dis- 
cordant characters. In the Archaeotherium of 
Leidy, are united the molar teeth of the hog, the 
canines of the bear, and the cheek-bones of the cat. 
The Oreodon of the same author, had the grind- 
ing teeth of the elk, and the canines of the thick- 
skinned, omniverous animals, and was fitted to live 
on both flesh and vegetables, and at the same time 
was ruminant like the ox. Hundreds of fossil 
turtles were observed by the early explorers scat- 
tered over the surface, some of which were esti- 
mated to weigh a ton, whose remains it was found 
impossible to remove. 

* Vide Owen, D.D. " Geological Survey of Iowa and Minnesota." 



TERTIARY SERIES. 325 

Cuvier was the first who introduced us to a 
knowledge of the animals of this era, determined 
from the fragments of bones collected in the gyp- 
sum beds of Montmartre, near Paris. Here, he 
remarks, he found himself as if placed in a charnel- 
house, surrounded by mutilated fragments of many 
hundred skeletons, of more than twenty animals, 
piled confusedly around him. "At the voice of 
comparative anatomy, every bone and fragment of 
a bone resumed its place."* So conclusive and 
exact were his demonstrations, that we know what 
were the forms and habits of these extinct species, 
as well as if they were now animated with the 
breath of life, and clothed with flesh and skin. 
Wonderful as were these revelations, they are not 
only paralleled, but surpassed b}^ those of the 
Fresh-water Tertiary basins of the Upper Missouri. 

The basin of Mauvaises Terres^ or Bad Lands, 
is estimated by Hayden to cover a region at least 
of 100,000 square miles; and, from isolated patches 
on both sides of the Missouri River, he infers that 
this great fresh-water lake must have spread over 
150,000 square miles, — an area nearly five times 
greater than that of Lake Superior, the largest 
fresh-water lake of the present day. 

3. The Wind-River group. — These beds have 
no great geographical range, as thus far determined, 

* " Os&emens Fossiles." Introduction. 



326 GEOLOGY. 

although, locally, they attain a thickness of 1,500 
or 2,000 feet. They furnish no materials of eco- 
nomic value, nor are the}^ replete with forms of 
organic life. 

4. The great lignite group. — This is the 
most important member of the series, both by rea- 
son of its geographical range and its economic 
materials. It has been traced in a series of basins 
along the foot-hills of the Rocky Mountains from 
Pike's Peak (and future explorations may make it 
continuous to Mexico) to the Upper Missouri and 
into the British Possessions; and from the testi- 
mony of Sir John Richardson, and other Arctic 
explorers, there is every reason to believe that it is 
almost continuous to the Arctic Sea.* 

In a recent report, Hayden gives a description 
of the lignite deposits of the Laramie Plains. 

" I found," he remarks, " the lignite of excellent quality, in 
beds of from five to eleven feet thick, and I estimated the area 
occupied by the basin at 5,000 square miles. Its most eastern 
limit is about ten miles east of Rock Creek, a branch of the 
Medicine-bow River. Outcroppings have been seen all along 
Rock Creek, Medicine-bow, on Rattlesnake Hills, on the 
North Platte, Muddy Creek, Ham's Fork, Echo Canon, and 
all along Weber River, nearly to Great Salt-Lake, showing 
that one connected series of deposits covers this whole 
area." | 

* The reader is referred to a valable paper by F. B. Meek, on the 
" Geology of the Mackenzie River," determined from the collections 
of the late Robert Kennicott. " Transactions of Chicago Academy of 
Sciences." Vol. I., p. 6i. 

t Silliman's "American Journal," March, iS6S. 



LIGNITE SERIES. 327 

On South Boulder and Coal Creek, between 
Denver and Cheyenne, eleven distinct seams of 
coal have been explored, one of which is eleven 
feet in thickness, and the combined seams are from 
thirty to fifty feet. Externally these lignites pre- 
sent the appearance of a light, bituminous coal, and 
on assay, give about equal parts of volatile matter 
and fixed carbon, and only two or three per cent, 
of ash. Like most of the coals, more recent than 
the Carboniferous epoch, they contain a large 
amount of water, ranging from twelve to twenty 
per cent. 

In the Great Basin, lignites have been observed 
along the eastern base of the Sierra Nevada, in the 
Pine-Nut Mountains; in the volcanic district of 
Esmeralda; in El Dorado Canon; and at Crystal 
Peak, where considerable mining has been done, 
but with indifferent success. Towards the eastern 
rim of the Great Basin, the deposits are more abun- 
dant, and promise to be of greater economical 
value. Lignite occurs west of the Black Hills, 
and is traced almost continuousl}^ to Salt-Lake 
Valley. At Argcnta, 400 miles from Sacramento, 
on the line of the railroad, a deposit is reported of 
such excellence as to fit it for locomotive use. 
The principal deposits of lignite, so far as known, 
are indicated on the Geological Map (p. 272), by 
the deeply-shaded, oblique lines. 



328 GEOLOGY. 

Marine strata of the Pacific Coast. — On 
the Pacific Slope, the Tertiary rocks, which are 
referred to the Miocine age, appear to be cotermin- 
ous with the Cretaceous. They enter into the 
frame-work of the Coast Ranges, stretching from 
the Columbia to San Louis Bay, and probably to 
Cape St. Lucas; and, throughout the entire extent, 
the strata are upheaved, plicated, and metamor- 
phosed, and, at frequent intervals, invaded by igne- 
ous products. They repose in horizontal strata 
upon the foot-hills of the Sierra, but are in a dis- 
turbed position where they fold around Shasta. 
The entombed fossils, like those of the Atlantic 
Coast, are of marine origin. 

Like the Missouri beds, they contain valuable 
seams of coal, restricted for the most part to the 
State of Oregon. The mines in the region of Coos 
Bay, according to Gabb, are in this formation, and 
probably those of the Willamette Valley. 

The ancient vegetation of the Upper Missouri, 
now incorporated into coals, consisted of crypto- 
gamic land-plants, fan-palms, and coniferous trunks 
like our pines and firs, and of yuglandacece^ like 
the black walnut, and oi Aceriiiece^ like the maple, 
all allied to existins^ forms. 

Economic value of the Tertiary Coals. — 
Thus, it would appear that, contrary to the opinion 
formerly entertained by geologists, nature has not 



TERTIARY IGNEOUS ROCKS. 329 

restricted the useful deposits of coal to rocks of the 
Carboniferous epoch ; and that while, perhaps, those 
of the true Coal-Measures are, in purity, in free- 
dom from hygrometric moisture, in ability to pro- 
duce concentrated heat, and to resist atmospheric 
action, superior to those of a later age; yet, in our 
own countr}', valuable coals are extracted from the 
Oolite, the Cretaceous, and the Tertiary formations. 
Tertiary coals are now successfully . employed to 
propel the Pacific steamers, and to heat the dwell- 
ings of the Colorado miners; and Providence, as if 
to facilitate the intercourse between the two oceans, 
has so distributed these deposits throughout that 
vast treeless region west of the Missouri, in such 
accessible positions, and in such a state of purit}', 
that they may be made available for propelling the 
locomotive across the western portion of the Con- 
tinent. 

Tertiary Igneous Rocks. — The Washoe Moun- 
tains, according to Richthofen, form an interme- 
diate link between the Sierra Nevada and the 
ranges of the Great Basin. "To the Sierra Nevada 
they are related by the metamorphism of their 
sedimentar}^ formations, which farther east appear 
more regularly stratified and less altered. With 
both, the}' have, in common, the considerable part 
which Tertiary and Post-Tertiary eruptive rocks, 



330 GEOLOGY. 

partly of pure volcanic origin, play in their archi- 
tecture." 

Mount Davidson Is llthologically syenitic, and 
probably a continuation of the granitic axis of the 
Pine-Nut Mountains which are flanked by a 
series of rocks, as determined by Whitney, of Tri- 
assic age, forming the ajicient series. 

" They partly preceded," remarks the Baron, " and partly 
were contemporaneous with the gradual emergence of the 
Sierra Nevada, the Great Basin, and the entire chain of the 
Cordilleras from the ancient sea, whose traces are left in saline 
incrustations and salt-pools at the bottom of the numerous 
basins between the Sierra Nevada and Rocky Mountains, 
which had formerly remained filled with the water of the 
retiring sea. The Washoe Mountains formed, undoubtedly, 
an elevated range during the long period which elapsed till 
the commencement of the formation of the recent series of 
rocks which are eruptive and volcanic, and belong to the latter 
part of the Tertiary and Post-Tertiary periods." * 

In a volcanic rock, technically called propylite, — 
a paste of greenish or brownish color, with imbed- 
ded crystals of feldspar, — is contained the far- 
famed CoMSTOCK Lode which, in the short space 
of six years, has yielded $75,000,000 of silver, and 
whose annual product is equal to that of all Mexico. 
And yet, this magnificent lode, in whose success 
the fate of an entire state is involved, has arrived 
at that pass when, at the depth of nearly a thou- 
sand feet, by reason of the accumulation of water, 

* Richthofen, Baron. " Report on Comstock Lode." 



COMSTOCK LODE. 33 J 

imperfect ventilation, and increase of internal tem- 
perature (90° where, after brief exertions, the 
miners are required to repose), the explorations 
have nearly ceased to be profitable, with the cer- 
tainty that they will become absolutely so, if the 
present system of mining is persisted in. A tunnel, 
(projected by Mr. Adolph Sutro, and bearing his 
name,) four miles long, and affording drainage into 
a valle}^, can be constructed to cut this lode at a 
depth of 2,000 feet; and to accomplish this object, 
national aid has been invoked. 

The Comstock vein, while pursuing a general 
course of north and south, appears to partake of 
the flexures of the inclosing rock, which is folded 
round and invests the syenitic nucleus of Mount 
Davidson, conforming to its irregularities, passing 
the ravines in concav^e bends, and inclosing the 
foot of the diflerent ridges in convex curves. It 
has been traced for about 19,000 feet, and, at a 
depth of from 400 to 600 feet, it is from 100 to 
even 200 feet in width, but contracting in places 
to a mere seam. Its dip is far from uniform, first 
inclining to the east, then assuming verticalness, and 
finally turning to the west, and expanding towards 
the surface in a fan-like form. It has, therefore, 
individual features which detach it from other sys- 
tems of veins.* 

* Richthoten. Ibidem. 



332 GEOLOGY. 

Drift-Epoch. — During the Tertiary age the rela- 
tive area of land and water, as we have shown, was 
different from what we now behold. The ocean, 
on the east, invested the land up to the flanks of 
the Appalachians, and on the west up to the flanks 
of the Sierra Nevada; while, in the form of an enter- 
ing bay, it extended up to the mouth of the Ohio; 
and fresh and salt-water, as indicated by the brack- 
ish character of some of the shells, commingled 
far up the Missouri. The Colorado was an arm 
of the sea, a prolongation of the Gulf of California. 
A chain of great fresh-water lakes stretched along 
the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains and 
penetrated the Great Basin. The sun glowed with 
a more genial heat, and a semi-tropical vegetation, 
such as that which flourishes in the lower latitudes 
of the United States, prevailed as far north as 
Disco Island and the sources of Mackenzie's 
River. Immense saurians tenanted the sea, and 
numerous forms of pachyderms, allied to those of 
the warm climate of India, roamed over the land. 

But a change was at hand, — a change for which 
science has thus far failed to find a satisfactory 
solution. The sun was shorn of a portion of his 
vivifying rays; the seas became cold; shells of an 
Arctic t3'pe tenanted the waters, and an Alpine 
vegetation penetrated far into the Temperate Zone. 
A new race of quadrupeds, represented by the 



TRIASSIC SERIES. 333 

mastodon and the mammoth, sprang Into being, 
clothed with a raiment of wool to protect them 
from the rigors of the climate, and furnished with 
teeth of peculiar complexity to enable them to 
browse upon a sub-Arctic vegetation* and the 
musk-ox and the reindeer roamed south to where 
now grow the olive and the vine. 

In order that we may realize the character of the 
climate which formerly prevailed over what are 
now the most favored portions of the earth's surface, 
we need but go north and plant ourselves on the 
shores of Greenland. Here is a continent which 
for three-fourths of the year is moulded in snow 
and ice. The coast is lined with glaciers which, 
descending through the fiords, jut far out into the 
sea, and, becoming detached by tidal action, float 
ofl:' in the form of bergs, while the supply is kept 
up by the melting of the great snow-fields lying in 
the interior. These bergs, freighted with masses 
of rock, earth, and gravel, float off into warmer 
waters, where they dissolve and scatter their con- 
tents over the bed of the ocean. 

What can be more desolate than an Arctic land- 
scape: — the flashing splendors of the Northern 
Lights; the gloomy solitude which every where 
reigns unbroken, except by the cracking of the 
ice; the corruscations of the stars in that pure, 
cold atmosphere; and the strangeness of a midnight 



334 GEOLOGY. 

sun hanging like a great fire-ball in the southern 
sky, lighting up the pinnacles of icebergs and 
causing them to glitter with opalescent hues. 

The rigors of such a climate reigned over what 
now are the temperate regions of both hemispheres. 
Cold oceanic currents swept from the north, float- 
ing innumerable icebergs, and the land itself was 
in a state of glaciation, attested by the striation of 
the rocks, by long trains of boulders, by moraine- 
like accumulations of gravel, and by mingled sands 
and clays, as if deposited amid turbulent currents 
and shifting eddies.* 

* If we read the narrative of Kane and other Arctic explorers, our 
ideas will become enlarged as to the extent of these ice-fields, and the 
restless energy with which they move. Take his description of the 
great glacier of Humboldt, presenting at the sea a perpendicular cliff 
of three hundred feet, and stretching inland as far as the eye can 
reach, in the form of a great table-land, with a relief and depression 
corresponding with the surface of the soil. 

'• Repose," says Kane, "was not the characteristic of this seemingly 
solid mass; every feature indicated activity, energy, movement." 
While the external air might have a temperature of — 30", the glacier 
indicated + 20, yielding an uninterrupted flow of water during the 
whole year. 

The glacier is a viscous mass, slowly advancing to the coast, urged 
on by a power behind, until it is forced so far into the sea, that the 
water becomes capable of sustaining the projected mass, when it 
becomes detached from the parent glacier, not by a violent debacle, 
but quietly, and is floated oft" in the form of a berg, to be dissolved 
in the milder temperature of southern seas. Thousands of these 
bergs are thus detached and throng the Arctic seas, freighted with 
tons and tons of rounded and angular blocks of stone, and other 
detrital matter, to be dropped in the sea-bottom of lower latitudes. 

Now, if the ocean-bed along the track of these ice-rafts were ele- 
vated and made dry land, it would doubtless exhibit all the phenomena 
of the Drift, — detrital materials almost void of stratification, long 
lines of boulders, the direction in no degree conforming to the ine- 



DRIFT-EPOCH. 335 

Drift of the Mississippi Valley. — In tra- 
versing the prairies the observer is struck by the 
almost entire absence of those long trains of boul- 
ders, those moraine-like accumulations of rounded 
and water-worn pebbles, and those heavy beds of 
sand and gravel discordantly stratified, which char- 
acterize the the Drift-phenomena of the Atlantic 
Slope, and particularly of New England. Instead 
of these, he finds the surface sometimes composed 
of comminuted materials of marly clay, and at other 
times of materials more silicious, with an occasional 
boulder standing up like a landmark. This diver- 
sity in character is owing probably to two causes. 

I. That while every Drift-region shows the intru- 
sion of materials of a northern origin, still the great 
mass is derived from the destruction of the rocks 
in the immediate neighborhood; and we should, 



qualities of surface, and grooved and polished rocks, where the bergs 
had struck and become stranded. 

The lowest temperature of sea-water recorded by Kane, amid drift- 
ing ice-bergs, is between 28" and 29°. 

He describes Cape James Kent as a lofty headland, where the land- 
ice was covered with rocks from the cliffs above. "As I looked," says 
he, "over this ice-belt, loosing itself in the far distance, and covered 
with millions of tons of rubbish, greenstones, limestones, chlorite 
slates, rounded and irregular, massive and ground to powder, its 
importance as a geological agent in the transportation of Drift struck 
me with great force. Its whole substance was covered with these contri- 
butions from the shore ; and farther to the south, upon the now frozen 
waters of Marshall Bay, I could recognize raft after raft from last 
year's ice-belt, which had been caught up by the winter, each one 
laden with its heavy freight of foreign material." ("Arctic Expedi- 
tion." ) 



33^ GEOLOGY. 

therefore, a priori^ infer that the ruins of the Silu- 
rian and Carboniferous strata of the Mississippi 
Valle}^, would present a soil of a far different 
mechanical texture from that derived from the 
cr3stalline and metamorphic rocks of New Eng- 
land; that while the tremendous energy of the 
Drift-agency might grind the one class of rocks 
into an impalpable powder, it might leave the 
other of a coarser texture, together with innumer- 
able rounded pebbles. 

2. That as the force of the Drift-agency sub- 
sided, there was probably an interval sufficiently 
long, during which only the finer sediments were 
deposited upon a lacustrine floor. These sedi- 
ments, for thousands of years, have borne annual 
crops of grass, whose ashes or decaying leaves 
have mingled each year with the soil, and contri- 
buted to its fertility; and hence it has the lightness 
and almost the mobility of an ash-heap. 

The materials composing the Drift-series are 
loam, sand, and gravel more or less stratified, and 
yellow and blue clay, — the latter resting on rocks 
previously grooved and polished where sufficiently 
firm to retain the impressions. The maximum 
thickness of the Blue clay in the vicinity of Lake 
Michigan, is at least one hundred feet, and the 
combined thickness of these superficial materials 
is one hundred and fifty feet. Boulders are found 



DRIFT-SERIES. 337 

embedded in the Blue clay, as well as reposing on 
the surface of the prairies, but more abundantly- 
near the base of the series. The Blue clay may 
be regarded as a slow deposit of mud produced 
by the shifting action of tides, while the boulders 
were dropped from floating ice-bergs; for it is very 
evident that both classes of materials could not 
have been accumulated by the same set of cur- 
rents. 

The Drift-phenomena are by no means con- 
spicuously displayed on the Plains. We have 
never noticed the etching of the rocks, or the dis- 
tribution of boulders at points far west of Leaven- 
worth. Dr. Hayden remarks, that on the Platte, 
at the mouth of the Elkhorn, there is a ledge of 
limestone which has been planed so smoothly by 
glacial action that it makes a most excellent mate- 
rial for caps and sills, without further working, — a 
phenomenon which he has not before observed in 
any part of the far West. Sometimes there are 
deep grooves and scratchings, all of which have a 
direction northwest and southeast. The evidences 
of glacial action are also to be seen at Plattsmouth, 
and if the detrital covering were stripped off, 
the limestones would appear to be planed in this 
way.* 

* "Report to Commissioner of General Land Office," 1867, p. 129. 
22 



338 GEOLOGY. 

Erosive action on the Pacific Slope. — The 
great swell, on which rise the crested ridges of the 
Rocky Mountains, appears to have acted as a bar- 
rier asfainst the encroachments of the Northern 
Drift. All traces of its existence, also, are absent 
on the Pacific Slope. 

" The explorations of the Geological Survey of California," 
says Whitney, " have demonstrated that there is no true North- 
ern Drift within the limits of this State. Our detrital mate- 
rials, which often form deposits of great extent and thickness, 
are invariably found to have been dependent for their origin 
and present condition on causes similar to those now in action, 
and to have been deposited on the flanks and at the bases 
of the nearest mountain ranges, by currents of water rushing 
down their slopes. While we have abundant evidence of the 
former existence of extensive glaciers in the Sierra Nevada, 
there is no reason to suppose that the ice was to any extent an 
effective agent in the transportation of the superficial deposits 
now resting on the flanks of the mountains. The glaciers 
were confined to the most elevated portions of the mountains, 
and although the moraines which they have left as evidences 
of their former extension, are often large and conspicuous, they 
are insignificant in comparison with the detrital masses formed 
by aqueous erosion. There is nothing, any where in Califor- 
nia, which indicates a general Glacial epoch, during v/hich ice 
covered the whole country and moved bodies of detritus over 
the surface, independently of its present configuration, as is 
seen throughout the Northeastern States." * 

The same condition of things prevails through- 
out Oregon, British Columbia, and Alaska. 

The configuration of the whole coast is such as 

* " Proc. Cal. Acad. Nat. Sciences." Vol. III., p. 272. 



DRIFT-SERIES. 



339 



to protect it from the ice-floes of the Polar Sea, 
and such an event could not take place without 
presupposing a very great change in the relative 
level of land and water. And yet, perhaps, there 
is no region of the earth which bears such unmis- 
takable evidence that the mountains were once 
" moulded in ice," to a far greater extent than at 
this time; none which shows such wide-spread 
denudation and such deep accumulations of detrital 
materials. On the plains of Los Angeles they 
reach 300 feet in depth, and at Table Mountain, as 
before shown, 200 feet, with a denudation of 2,000 
feet. In this tremendous erosive action nature has 
broken up, pulverized, and assorted those mate- 
rials charged with gold, constituting " placer " or 
"gulch diggings," and thereby relieved man of an 
infinitude of toil in gathering the precious metal. 

In the peninsula of Lower California, according 
to Gabb, there are extensive deposits of gravels in a 
horizontal position, filling or bordering on all the 
valleys, capped by porphyries and other volcanic 
rocks, one hundred or more feet in thickness, and 
extending over immense areas. 

The great canons of the Colorado, forming 
gorges from 3,000 to 6,000 feet in depth, amid 
whose intricacies the traveler is liable to become 
almost hopelessly involved, are regarded by New- 
berry, as belonging to this vast system of erosion, 



340 GEOLOGY. 

and wholly due to the action of water. On the 
other hand, when we see, for instance, along the 
rock-bound coast of Lake Superior, upon which 
the waves have dashed for thousands of years, the 
most delicate etchings on the rocks perfectly pre- 
served, we confess that, in running water, we fail 
to recognize an adequate cause to account for the 
excavation of these profound gorges; and although 
the geologist, like the actor, should ever have in 
mind the advice of Horace, 

" nee Deus intersit 
Nisi vindice nodus," 

yet here is an instance in which, we think, the 
Fire-God may be properly invoked, and to his 
interposition, these tremendous events may be, in 
part, ascribed, — or in other words, that the form 
and outline of these chasms were first determined 
b}^ plutonic agenc}'. Every explorer describes 
the heavy accumulations of volcanic matter which 
cover the most superficial materials in the elevated 
region between the Rio Grande and the Colorado 
Desert, and in fact throughout the entire range -of 
the Rocky Mountains. 

It would thus seem that while aqueous causes 
were in full activity over all these regions, igneous 
causes exhibited an activity equally conspicuous. 

Anticipating the order of succession, it may be 



RECENT DESSICATION. 34 1 

stated that almost every where in the Great Basin, 
and the same may be said of the Colorado Plateau, 
there are observed the evidences, within a recent 
period, of a climate much more humid, and of a 
soil much more fruitful than now prevail. On 
some of the mountain sides are seen yet standing, 
considerable tracts of dead forests; the borders of 
the lakes and streams show water-lines two and 
three hundred feet above their present levels; allu- 
vial bottoms, now bare and desolate, contain the 
entombed remains of a luxuriant arborescent ve<re- 
tation; canons which must have been the channels 
of abundant streams, are either dry, or discharge 
an insigniticant flood; springs originating in the 
melting snows are absorbed as soon as they reach 
the thirsty plain; and in certain parts are the 
remains of populous towns, where now it would 
be difficult for man to eke out a subsistence. All 
these phenomena attest that this wide-spread deso- 
lation is of extremely recent origin, but for which 
it is difficult to ofler a satisfactory solution. With 
the relative area of land and water as at present 
maintained, we must suppose that the conditions 
of climate have remained constant; but with a 
depression of the countr}- to such an extent as to 
admit of the flow of the ocean through the Col- 
orado Desert to the rim of the Great Basin, and if 
w^e suppose that throughout this basin there existed 



342 GEOLOGY. 

a series of lakes two and three hundred feet in 
depth, we can conceive that the climate would be 
essentially modified. No currents of air would 
arise from a heated expanse to dissipate every 
forming cloud; evaporation from large surfaces of 
water would reduce the temperature and moisten 
the atmosphere; and trees, clothing the slopes of 
the hills, would shade the fountains and render 
them perennial. We are disposed to believe, 
therefore, that the volcanic action, of which Mount 
Shasta is but an example, combined, perhaps, with 
a gradual elevatory movement exerted within the 
historic period, has so far changed the relative 
level of land and sea as to produce this dimin- 
ished moisture. 

Terraces of Modijied Drift. — Loess. — If we ex- 
amine the shores of our Great Lakes, we find them 
bounded at intervals by stair-like ridges known as 
terraces, often three in number, the uppermost 
attaining, as at Mackinac, an elevation of one hun- 
dred feet above the present water-level, and a still 
higher elevation along the shores of Lake Superior. 
The same appearances are observed in the prin- 
cipal river-valleys. We here find ordinarily an 
ancient Drift-terrace indenting the hills, next a 
terrace of Modified Drift, and at last the Alluvial 



TERRACES. 



343 



Bottom which is often ridged with numerous steps, 
indicating successive levels in the river-channel. 

These phenomena are represented to some ex- 
tent in the subjoined 



SECTION OF A RIVKR VALLEY. 







I. Ancient Drift. 2. Modified Valley Drift. 

3. Alluvial Bottom. 

These terraces would indicate a gradual emergf- 
ence of the land from the ocean, with sufficient 
pauses in the movement to admit of their forma- 
tion. When we consider the topographical fea- 
tures of the country, it is evident that, during this 
emergence, the relative area of land and water 
throughout the Mississippi Valley, nmst have varied 
very much, and have been far different from what 
we now behold. But the terraces along the Great 
Lakes do not represent the whole emergence. 
Observations on the raised beaches, both of the 
Atlantic and Pacific Slope, indicate that the sub- 
mergence was not less than 2,000 feet, which would 
be sufficient to cover the great plateau in which 
the four great rivers, the Mississippi, the Saskatch- 



344 GEOLOGY. 

awan, the Mackenzie, aiul the St. La^\■l•o^co, have 
a common source, tlunii;"li llowini;- in dillerent direc- 
tions, aiul to create an open sea between the Arctic 
Ocean and the Gulf oi Mexico. When we exam- 
ine the structure ot' the terraces and bhitls, we tind 
that, in northern hititudes above the parallel 38'^, 
and where the Drilt-action is conspicuous, thev are 
made up of beds of gravel and sand rudelv strati- 
tied, the pebbles for the most part ot foreign origin, 
Avith large angular blocks from the vicinage, indi- 
cating that the ice-action had not altogether ceased. 

In lower latitudes, and along the l^pper Mis- 
souri, remote from the Drift-intluence, the blutls of 
the great rivers consist of a yellowish loam, almost 
impalpable in its divisions, and resembling the 
Z.OCSS oi the Rhine, — a term which Western Geolo- 
gists are disposed to naturalize. 

Loi::ss, or Bluff For^lvtiox, — The Loess, as 
observed by Ilayden on the Missouri, commences 
at about the foot of the Great Bend (platitude 44"^), 
and continues thence with occasional interruptions 
to its mouth. At Council Blutls and Sioux City, 
in Iowa, it forms a conspicuous I'eature in the land- 
scape, and in its thickness is from tifty to one hundred 
and tifty leet. This deposit is not restricted to the 
main vallev, but lines the vallevs oi verv manv of 
the principal atfluents. It is for the most part 
devoid of stratitication, and the enclosed remains 



SAND-DUNES. 345 

of shells are all of fresh-water origin, and l)elong 
to existing species. The remains of Mammalia, 
however, such as the mastodon, peccary, horse, 
lion, musk-ox, etc., belong to extinct species, thus 
showing that the fresh-water fauna survived 
changes which were fatal to many of the air- 
breathing animals. 

Swallow, in his Survey of Missouri, was the first 
to recognize this deposit in all its importance, and 
gave it the distinctive name of the "lilulf P'orma- 
tion." 

On the Lower Mississippi it is well developed, 
extending from above the junction of the Missouri 
to its delta. In tlie river counties of the State of 
Mississippi, according to llilgard, it occupies a 
belt ten to fifteen miles in width, and in places is 
seventy feet thick, running parallel with the stream. 
In its lithological character, it resembles that of 
the Upper Mississippi and Missouri, being a fine, 
silicious loam of a buff" color. 

The loef;s is undoubtedly a lacustrine formation, 
and to account for its present level we must pre- 
suppose an elevation of the land to an extent of at 
least two hundred feet. 

Sand-dunes. — As among the phenomena of the 
Post-Pliocine epoch, for it was one of long continu- 
ance, may be included the Sand-dunes which often 
form conspicuous landmarks along the eastern shore 



34^ GEOLOGY. 

of Lake Michigan. They consist of irregular heaps 
of sand which have been accumulated by the winds 
blowing in a certain direction, and upon specific 
shores. Hence, their accumulation is confined, 
almost exclusively, to the eastern shore of the 
lake. 

In many countries these dunes exercise an impor- 
tant influence on the national industry. Holland 
owes its prosperity to the shelter which they afford 
to navigation, by forming a natural barrier against 
the sea; whereas, in other countries, they are 
dreaded on account of their encroachments on the 
cultivable land. 

The dunes of Cape Cod rarely exceed eighty 
feet in height; and there, perhaps, they are as con- 
spicuously developed as upon any portion of the 
Atlantic Coast. The dunes on this inland sheet 
of water are equally high, and even higher, — ex- 
ceeding, in some places, one hundred feet. It is 
generall}' found, too, that they assume a lee and 
strike side, — the gentle and long slope being to 
the v/indvvard, and the steep acclivity towards the 
sheltered position. The Sleeping Bear and Pointe 
Aux Ch 'ues, near the foot of Lake Michigan, are 
conspicuous examples of these dune-like forma- 
tions, — while at the head, at New Buftalo and 
Michigan City, they are equally conspicuous. 
Sand-ridges extend from the head of the lake far 



SAND-DUNES. 347 

into the interior, as far even as Tippecanoe, Indiana, 
having great uniformity in direction, and resem- 
bling what the Swedish geologists denominate 
osars. 

In searching for the origin of these siHcious 
materials, it may be asserted that the rivers which 
enter the lake, transport at this day only tine, argil- 
laceous sediments, and, therefore, their accumula- 
tion is not due to existing causes. The Potsdam 
sandstone which skirts the southern flanks of the 
Azoic system of Lake Superior, is a slightl3'-cohe- 
rent rock, which must have been powerfully acted 
on during the denuding agency of the Drift-epoch* 
and it is to this source that we may look for the 
origin of these materials. As to the mode of their 
accumulation, it may be said, that the waves, in 
positions where the winds have full sweep, car- 
r3'ing the suspended particles, strike the shore 
with a momentum greater than the recoil, which 
admits of a deposit of the materials held in suspen- 
sion. Thus each wave, as it expends itself upon 
a shelving beach, makes a deposit of sand. After 
the waves have delivered their freight upon the 
shore, it is taken up by the winds. The particles 
of sand drifted inland, are subject to the same laws 
which control the drifting of snow. The strike- 
side of a dune is an inclined plane, with an inclina- 
tion not to exceed 5° or 10°, up which the sand is 



348 GEOLOGY. 

driven, while the lee side may exhibit an angle of 
30°. Wherever there occurs an obstacle like a 
tree or a rock, a deposit is made, and this process 
goes on until the general level of the obstacle is 
attained. As the wind shifts, particles are borne in 
a different direction, so that, instead of a continu- 
ous bank, the sands are generally arranged in a 
series of conical hills. 

All dunes are found to be moist to within a few 
feet of the surface, as though derived from capil- 
lary attraction, and, hence, they become clothed 
with an appropriate vegetation, of which the pine- 
tribe is the most conspicuous. The slopes present 
the same ripple-marked surface observable on a 
shelving shore, which is the result of the assort- 
ing of the materials according to their specific 
gravity, — the lighter portions forming the crests, 
and the heavier the troughs. 

Between the parallel ridges which, as before re- 
marked, extend far inland, and have become clothed 
mainly with pines and aspens, ponds have been 
formed, which, from their sheltered position and 
slight currents, are peculiarl}' adapted to the growth 
of peat-producing plants, such as the sphagnous 
mosses, and of the order JVymphceacecs., etc. 

The ancient channel by which a portion of the 
waters of the Upper Lakes was formerly discharged 



THE GREAT LAKES. 349 

into the Mississippi through the Illinois River, is 
clearly indicated. 

THE GREAT LAKES. 

Drift-Phenomena. — The Great Lakes, whether 
we consider their area, depth, or the facilities for 
inter-communication which they afford to the inte- 
rior of the Continent, form one of the grandest 
features in the geography of North America. 
The}^ may have existed from a remote geological 
epoch, as longitudinal valleys, determined by the 
different systems of mountain chains; but that their 
respective areas were greatly modified and enlarged 
during the Drift-epoch, admits of no doubt, — for all 
along their shores, the rocks where sufficiently 
firm to retain the markings, have been planed 
down, grooved, and striated, by a tremendous force 
which appears to have operated over the entire 
area of their connected basins. This planing pro- 
cess was not restricted to the subjacent rocks, for at 
Marquette, nnd at other points on Lake Superior, 
may be seen mural faces^'of highh'-metamorphosed 
slates which have been polished and grooved by 
a force acting longitudinally, and Newberry has 
observed similar markings on the limestone cliffs 
of Lake Erie. 

The grandest exhibition of the Drift-phenomena 



350 GEOLOGY. 

which it has been my fortune to observe, occurs on 
the southern coast of Lake Superior, between 
Granite Point and Dead River. The rocks, — a 
tough feldspathic porphyry, ahnost indestructi- 
ble, — are not only simply polished, but some of 
the grooves are four feet wide and two feet deep, 
with all the markings as sharp as though done but 
yesterday by some great planing-machine. Here 
are two sets of striae, one running north and south, 
and the other north 20° east, south 20° west. Ex- 
amples of this character, nearly equall}^ conspicu- 
ous, are to be seen in the limestone surfaces at 
Sandusky and Buffalo. 

Denudation. — That there was a wide-spread 
denudation of the lake-beds during the Drift- 
epoch, as before suggested, admits of no doubt. 

Lake Superior occupies an immense depression, 
which has, for the most part, been excavated out of 
the Potsdam sandstone, and a few islands of this 
material, like Caribou, Maple, Parisien, and the 
Apostles, have escaped the general ruin. The out- 
lines of its shores have been mainly determined 
by the presence of the igneous rocks which opposed 
an effectual barrier to the glacial action. The con- 
figuration of Keweenaw Point is due to a trappean 
range which juts far into the lake; and the hord- 
like character of much of the Northern Shore and 



THE GREAT LAKES. 35 I 

Isle Ro3'ale, results from banded trap of unequal 
hardness and firmness, which opposed an unequal 
resistance to the denuding process. 

The basins of the two great lakes, Michigan and 
Huron, and this observation will apply to Erie and 
Ontario, appear to have been excavated out of that 
series of rocks included between the Niagara lime- 
stone and the Portage and Chemung groups, con- 
sisting of the Onondaga salt-group, the Coniferous 
limestone, and the Hamilton and Marcellus shales, 
which are slaty, or slightly-coherent in structure, 
and, therefore, little fitted to withstand denudation. 
The Niagara limestone, as before shown, is a 
firm and comparatively indestructible rock, which 
stretches in an almost unbroken belt from the Great 
Falls to the head of Lake Michigan, giving con- 
fio-uration to the whole northern shore of Lake 
Huron, and the western shore of the former lake. 
Green Bay is excavated in the soft, marly shales 
of the Cincinnati Blue limestone. 

Their Area and Elevation. — The combined 
area of the Great Lakes is approximately estimated 
to exceed 90,000 square miles, and the depression 
in most of them is sufficiently profound to reach 
below the sea-bed. The following table, though 
not strictly accurate, is believed to embrace their 
principal features. 



?>s^ 



GEOLOGY. 



TABLE— SHOWING THE AREA, DEPTH, AND ELEVA- 
TION OF THE GREAT LAKES. ' 



THE GREAT LAKES. 


S 3 s 


V: - . 

W - m 
HOW 
< < ^ 

W 4 " 

« 2 s 
a 


H 

W E h 

KB'* 



HEIGHT 

ABOVE 
SEA. 
FEET. 


< « {' 

< dj 


Superior, - - 


355 


160 


900 


605 


32,000 


Michigan, - - 


310 


84 


600 


583 


22,000 


Huron, - - - 


168 


120 


600 .'' 


578 


20,400 


Erie, - - - - 


246 


60 


300 


564 


9,600 


Ontario, - - 


190 


50 


800 


233 


6.300 


Total Area, 


- 


- 


- 


- 


90,300 



Col. Whittlesey, who has studied the regimen of 
these lakes more thoroughly, perhaps, than any 
other ph3'sicist, has kindly furnished me with the 
following notes: 

" It is not practicable to fix the elevation of the surface of 
these lakes, until their mean fluctuation is known. The 
results I propose to give, are, therefore, only approximate. 

" From observations made on Lake Erie since the year 1796, 
an extreme though transient change of level is known, amount- 
ing to seven feet, and a secular or permanent change of five 
feet. Of the variations on Lake Huron little is known. Obser- 
vations on Lake Michigan have been made with great care, 
but they cover only a few years of time. An extreme fluctua- 
tion of six feet has been observed. 

"On Lake Superior, the greatest known range of level is 
three feet, with indications of a much greater range. Lake 
Ontario has a variation of four feet nine inches, well deter- 
mined by water-registers, since the year 181 2. 

" The Surveys of the Upper Lakes, by the United States 



THE GREAT LAKES. 353 

Government, now in progress, will eventually fix the mean 
level of all the lakes, by observations which are made twice 
each day. 

" For present use, I give the mean results of instrumental 
surveys between tide-water and the lakes, and between the 
different lakes. 

"Before doing this I must remark, that in none of them is 
the stage of water noted, whether above or below the mean. 
There is, therefore, room for a plus or minus error of two or 
three feet, when referred to a place which shall be fixed upon 
as the mean level of each lake. There is also another ground 
of error. The lakes are not strictly level, but have an inclina- 
tion or descent towards their outlets, though this may be small 
and in part corrected by the action of winds. 

" To fix the elevation of the lakes, I begin at those nearest 
the sea, to which instrumental surveys have been made. The 
Upper Lakes are not thus connected by direct lines, but their 
height above tide is determined by reference to those below. 

" There is quite a discrepancy in the results which can be 
accounted for as I have above stated. 

LAKE ONTARIO. 

"By lockage in the St. Lawrence Canals, above mean tide, 234^ feet. 
By Canal Survey's of New York, above mean tide, - - 232 " 

Mean elevation, .--.---. 233J feet. 

LAKE ERIE. 

By Canal Survey of New York, 1817, - - . . 561.20 feet. 

By Capt. Williams's Report ot 1S34, Niagara Ship-Canal, 563.00 " 

By Surveys of Catskill and Portland Railway, 1828, 565.33 " 

By locks of New York Canal, ------ 567.00 " 

Mean, - --- 564.13 feet. 

LAKE HURON. 

S. W. Higgins, (Geological Report of Michigan, 1838), - 577 feet. 
A. Murray, (Geological Report of Canada, 1849), " " 57^ " 

Mean, 577i feet. 

Lake St. Clair, (Geological Report of Michigan), - - 570 " 
23 



354 GEOLOGY. 



LAKE MICHIGAN. 

Michigan Southern Railway, J. H. Sargent, Engineer, sur- 
vey of 1856, south end, ..._.. ^83 feet. 

LAKE SUPERIOR. 

By Capt. Bayfield's Barometical Measurements in 1824, 627 

feet, evidently too great. 
A. Murray's determination, (Geological Survey of Canada, 

1S49), 599-41 feet, say ------- 600 feet. 

Survey of Bay de Noquets and Marquette Railroad, 1859, ^^^ " 

Mean, ---------- 605 " " 

J?£: SI/MB. 

It is deemed needless to enter further into the 
physical history of the revolutions of the earth's 
surface, as attested by these geological monuments, 
which reach back to the dawn of organic life. 
While to some they may indicate the reign of 
waste and chaos, yet, throughout all these phases, 
we can detect design; — in the concentration of 
the useful metals in veins and beds; in the storing 
away of vast supplies of fossil fuel; in the consoli- 
dation and upheaval of the strata, giving relief and 
depression to the surface; in their subsequent ero- 
sion and dispersion to form soil; and in all the 
changes which these material elements have under- 
gone; — a design to fit the earth for the habitation 
of man, and to afford him useful materials for the 
exercise of his industry, and the promotion of his 
comforts and conveniences. 



I 



CHAPTER XL 

INFLUENCE OF CLIMATE ON MAN. 

GEOGRAPHICAL RANGE OF MAN, AS COMPARED WITH THAT OF 

PLANTS CONDITIONS OF HUMAN LIFE UNDER DIFFERENT 

ZONES ARCTIC LIFE TROPICAL LIFE LIFE IN NORTHERN 

TEMPERATE ZONE HUMAN ENERGY DISPLAYED WITHIN 

CERTAIN ISOTHERMAL LINES IN EUROPE IN NORTH 

AMERICA CLIMATE OF THE SOUTHERN STATES AND THE 

CONDITION OF SOCIETY CLIMATE OF THE NORTHERN 

STATES AND THE CONDITION OF SOCIETY EFFECTS OF 

THESE DIFFERENCES SEEN IN THE REBELLION PHYSICAL 

DEVELOPMENT. 

Geographical Range of Man. — Every living 
organism, w^hether animal or vegetable, has a cer- 
tain geographical range which is determined by 
the conditions of soil and climate. Within a par- 
ticular zone, certain animal and vegetable forms 
attain their full development, but deteriorate when 
transferred to a different zone. Man is not an 
exception to this great law, and " the same influ- 
ences which keep the smallest moss-plant to its 
rock, bind man to his mountain side or valley." 

♦Johnson. "Physical Atlas." 



* 



35^ CLIMATE ON MAN. 

These influences are less apparent when traced 
along a line of latitude than along a line of longi- 
tude, for the reason that the conditions of climate 
are less abrupt. It will be seen, however, that it 
is only under peculiarl}^ favorable conditions of soil 
and climate, and embracing only a limited portion 
of the earth's surface, that man has developed, to 
the full extent, his physical and intellectual vigor. 

Man is by nature, perhaps, the weakest and most 
defenceless of the Mammalia. For a long time after 
birth, he draws his nutrition from the mother, and 
it is a long time before he acquires the ability to 
walk. His food must be artificially prepared and his 
body artificially clothed. Other animals surpass 
him in keenness of vision, in rapidity of movement, 
in strength, and, in fact, in the acuteness of most of 
the senses. But he is endowed with reason, by the 
exercise of which he can make up for all these defi- 
ciencies, can repel or subdue all other animals, and 
make them subservient to his use. He can clothe 
himself to endure the rigors of an Arctic winter, 
and can shield himself from the burning rays of a 
tropical sun; he can lay up a stock of provisions 
in one quarter of the globe to be consumed in 
another; and, in fact, at this day, the intellectual 
man, so intimate are his commercial relations, com- 
mands the luxuries of every climate. Other ani- 
mals live in the immediate vicinity of the region 



NATIONx\L IDIOSYNCRACIES. 357 

which affords them the means of subsistence, and 
hence their migrations are determined by this 
cause. 

While, therefore, the range of man is greater 
than that of any other organism, whether vegetable 
or animal" yet, outside of certain lines of tempera- 
ture, that range is at the expense of his physical 
and mental powers. At one extreme, he becomes 
effeminate and incapable of vigorous and pro- 
longed exertion; at the other, he becomes dwarfed 
in stature, and so unremitting are the exertions 
required to procure the means of subsistence, that 
his animal propensities are developed at the ex- 
pense of his intellectual, and his instincts become 
little exalted above those of the beast of prey. 
In the region, however, embracing the happy mean, 
where the climate is such as to invigorate the sys- 
tem, and nature is so far genial as to require the 
appropriation of a part of his time only to secure 
the means of support, leaving a portion to be 
devoted to the cultivation of the intellect, man 
attains his full physical and intellectual develop- 
ment; and here we meet with that system of arti- 
ficial wants and refinements which is peculiarly 
the offspring of a high civilization. External 
nature, also, undoubtedly moulds the character of 
the individual and determines the idiosyncracies of 
a people. So intimate is this relation that man 



358 CLIMATE ON MAN. 

" Becomes 
Portion of that around him ; and to him 
Tiie mountains are a feehng," 

The Swiss villagers, brought up beneath the 
shadow of the Alps, must have far loftier ideas of 
the orrandeur of the universe than the Bushmen of 
the Cape, who are so degraded that they can not 
even build huts, — " the burning sky being their 
canopy, and the scorching sand their bed." In 
ever}^ age, the Swiss have been noted for their love 
of liberty, and among all the partitions of Europe, 
they have been able to preserve their national 
independence. While such traits have, with them, 
remained constant through many generations, it is 
probable that the traits of the Bushmen have been 
equally constant, and that it would require a sys- 
tem of training persevered in for generations, to 
lift them out of their degradation, and bring them 
to realize their true position in the scale of cre- 
ation. 

Arctic Life. — The Esquimaux, living upon the 
dreary ridges or boundless ice-fields which gird 
the Arctic shores, are compelled to maintain a con- 
stant struggle with nature for the means of sub- 
sistence. The active exercise and the out-door 
exposure which they undergo, — the thermometer 
often dropping to — 40°, — is attended with an enor- 



ARCTIC LIFE. 



359 



mous loss of carbon in the system, which must be 
suppHed by the most concentrated animal food.*'"" 

Burrowing in their snow-covered huts, and deriv- 
ino; their artificial heat from oil burned in the kot- 
luck^ by which the temperature within is raised to 
+ 90"^ while without it may be — 40°, with an 
ample supply of walrus-meat, the Esquimaux re- 
cline, ill purls naturalibus^ and realize the height 
of human felicity. 

But this dream is of short duration. Soon they 
are compelled to wander in quest of their precari- 
ous food, and there are long, dreary intervals, 
dependent upon the ice-floe, in which they experi- 
ence the pangs of an all-consuming famine. In 
this primitive and abject state, generation succeeds 
generation, without producing any elevation of the 
race. A few hundred words comprise the vocabu- 
lary to express their wants, their desires, their 
hopes, their aspirations. The means of multiply- 
ing the race are limited by the austerit}^ of the 
climate. Arts, laws, and society are unknown, and 
the individual is slightly distinguished in intel- 



* Dr. Kane estimates the Esquimaux ration at eight or ten pounds 
of animal food a day, with soup and water to the extent of half a gal- 
lon. The walrus, the seal, and the bear, are the staples of life; and 
it is a matter of indiiference to them whether the flesh of the animals 
be eaten cooked, or raw. In fact, Arctic navigators find that the raw 
walrus-meat is a rare tit-bit, and it is the best remedy for those scorbutic 
diseases which, in that region, result from intense cold and the long 
exclusion of the sun from the heavens. (Arctic Expedition.) 



360 CLIMATE ON MAN. 

lectual endowment above his congeners of the 
animal kingdom. 

Tropical Life. — In intertropical America, on the 
other hand, so prodigal is nature of her bounties, 
that man has but slight incentives to labor. A few 
posts driven into the ground, secured at the tops, 
and over all a roof thatched with branches of the 
palm, furnish his shelter. The hammock is his 
lounge by day, his bed by night. An acre of land, 
reclaimed from the forest and set out with plain- 
tains, will, within a few months, furnish the staple 
of his food for life. If luxuriously disposed, he 
may cultivate some beans, tobacco, a few bushes 
of coffee or pepper, perhaps some Indian corn, and 
raise a few chickens. The forest furnishes him 
with game, the river with fish. He has no strug- 
gle with nature for the means of subsistence; his 
wants are simple, his surroundings primitive. 
Clothing for himself and family causes the slight- 
est concern of all. Wealth has no attractions, 
ambition no incentives. He lives a life of inaction; 
he dies, is forgotten, and is succeeded by children 
but too well contented to pursue the same routine. 
So much for the dwellers in the valleys of the 
great rivers in the tropics. 

Upon the plains, the ranging-ground ol the vast 
herds of cattle and horses, the desire for ownership 



TROPICAL LIFE. 36 1 

in them naturally arises; but life remains ver}- much 
the same. The cattle increase with but slight 
care, and wealth is still comparatively valueless; 
for when the native has gained enough for the pur- 
chase of the long sword in its silver scabbard, the 
bit, stirrups, and spurs, all of silver, and the bridle 
and saddle, profusely ornamented with silver dol- 
lars, his ambition is gratified; and on gala days he 
appears well mounted, with embroidered shirt flut- 
tering outside his other garments, his naked feet 
adorned with the precious spurs, and thrust into the 
equally precious stirrups, — content to employ his 
brief hour in useless displa}-, and then lay aside shirt 
and ornaments, lor his daily avocation of swinging 
in the hammock. The long, listless days of sultry 
heat, pass away in sleeping and smoking; his habits 
are irregular, — now a feast, again nothing but 
parched corn or beans. The family occupy but 
one room, shared also by the passing traveler. 
All the household implements are of the rudest 
description, and life is but existence after all. 

Upon the rivers, during the rainy season, the sul- 
triness is indescribable. Insects torment the body, 
and utter idleness corrodes the mind. On the 
return of the dry season, with the subsidence of 
the waters, and the decay of the accumulated vege- 
table matter exposed to the sun, miasma stalks up 
and down the valle3's like an angry fiend, with 



362 CLIMATE ON MAN. 

wasting disease and delirious death following in 
his train. Thus the climate lays its embargo upon 
the best-devised plans of man.* 

Life in the Northern Temperate Zone. — Eu- 
rope. — If we examine a chart of the world and 
trace the isotherms 40° and 70° across the Eastern 
Hemisphere, we shall find that they include China, 
Thibet, the region of the Caucasus, Greece, Italy, 
that portion of Africa bordering the Mediterra- 
nean which is separated from the Desert by the 
High Atlas, the Germanic States, the southern 
peninsulas of Norway and Sweden, France, Spain, 
and the British Isles. Now it may be confidently 
asserted that, within this belt, the human form has 
been developed in all of its perfection, and the 
human intellect has put forth its most vigorous 
manifestations. Here has originated, almost with- 
out exception, every name associated with great- 
ness, whether in art, literature, poetry, painting, or 
sculpture; in fact, in all those pursuits which dig- 
nify and adorn life. Among the warriors, we find 
Alexander, Csesar, Alaric, Attila, Charlemagne, 
Charles XII., Frederick the Great, Napoleon, and 
Wellington: Among the poets, Homer, Virgil, 



* These notes on tropical life were communicated bj my old and 
valued iViend J. B. Austin, Esq., whose pursuits have led him to pass 
many jears in that region. 



TEMPERATE ZONE. 363 

Dante, Shakspeare, Milton, and Goethe: Among 
the sculptors, Ph3'clias, Praxiteles, Angelo, and 
Canova: Among the painters, Raphael, Reubens, 
Titian, Leonardo da Vinci, and Turner: Among 
the philosophers, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Pliny, 
Copernicus, Galileo, Bacon, Kepler, Newton, Lieb- 
nitz, Des Cartes, and Cuvier: Among the orators, 
Demosthenes, Cicero, Bourdaloue, Massillon, Mira- 
beau, Chatham, and Burke: Among the historians, 
Herodotus, Thuc3'dides, Livy, Tacitus, Rollin, Gib- 
bon, Plume, and Macaulay: Among the inventors, 
Faust, Watt, Hargreaves, Arkwright, Cartwright, 
and Stephenson: And among the navigators, 
Columbus, Magellan, Sebastian Cabot, and Gama. 
In fact, what name is there, illustrious in art or 
science, whose birth-place is not to be found within 
this zone ? The art of printing, the mariners' com- 
pass, and the science of alchemy subsequently 
transformed into chemistry, may have been derived 
from the East; but their uses and applications were 
developed by the people of the West. The}', too, 
may claim the invention of the telescope and micro- 
scope; the investigation of the laws of heat, light, 
and masfnetism; of the rotation of the aerial cur- 
rents; of the mathematical figure of the earth, and 
the movements of the heavenly bodies; and, in fact, 
of nearly all of the great phenomena of the universe. 
They invented the steam-engine, the steam-ship, 



364 CLIMATE ON MEN. 

the power-loom, the telegraph, and the railroad; 
they discovered and applied illuminating gas, the 
explosive properties of gunpowder, and the expan- 
sibility of air and water, as practically applied. 
These are they who, in the application of the arts, 
have done so much to mitigate human suffering, 
and contribute to the comforts and conveniences 
of man. These are they who have established 
such close ties of commercial intercourse with the 
whole habitable globe, bringing the products of 
every clime within this zone for consumption and 
re-distribution. Every steam-ship or sailing ves- 
sel, to whatever region she may go, is owned here 
and returns to some port within these lines. Here 
is accumulated capital, invested in manufactures, 
in mines, in railroads, and in navigation. Here are 
brought the crude materials to undergo additional 
processes and to receive an enhanced value, before 
they are finally consumed; — the furs of Hudson's 
Bay, the wools of South Africa, the cotton of Egypt 
and India, the copper of Chili, the gold of Aus- 
tralia, the sperm of Behring's Sea, and the ivory of 
Africa. Among these nations alone, we find stable 
governments for the administration of justice and 
the preservation of order. The rights of life and 
property are adjusted by judicial forms, and public 
faith and public credit are not obsolete virtues. 
How different this social economy from that which 



TEMPERATE ZONE. 365 

prevails outside of this zone! And to what cause, 
other than climate, shall we attribute this differ- 
ence? Even those nations occupying its borders, 
have not the methodical industry, the persevering 
application, or the business capacity of those who 
occupy a central position in this zone.* 

* This point has been well illustrated by Buckle, in his " History 
of Civilization." (Vol. I., Chap. 2). 

"Climate influences labor not only by enervating the laborer, or 
invigorating him, but also by the effect which it produces on the regu- 
larity of his habits. Thus we find that no people living in a very 
northern latitude, have ever possessed that steady and unflinching 
industry for which the inhabitants of the temperate regions are 
remarkable. The reason for this becomes clear, when we remember 
that in the more northern countries, the severity of the weather and, 
at some seasons, the deficiency of light render it impossible for the 
people to continue their out-of-door employments. The result is that 
the working-classes, being compelled to cease from their ordinary 
pursuits, are rendered more prone to desultory habits; the chain of 
their industry is, as it were, broken, and they lose that impetus which 
long-continued and uninterrupted practice never fails to give. Hence, 
there arises a national character more fitful and capricious than that 
possessed by a people whose climate permits the regular exercise of 
their ordinary industry. Indeed, so powerful is this principle, that we 
may perceive its operation, even under the most opposite circum- 
stances. It would be difficult to conceive a greater diflerence in gov- 
ernments, laws, religion, and manners, than that which distinguislies 
Sweden and Norway on the one hand, froin Spain and Portugal on 
the other. But these four countries have one great point in connnon. 
In all o!" tliem, continued agricultural industry is impracticable. In the 
two southern countries, labor is interrupted by heat, by the dryness 
of the weather, and by the consequent state of the soil. In the two 
northern countries, the same effect is produced by the severity of the 
winter and the shortness of the days. The consequence is that these 
four countries, though so different in other respects, are all remark- 
able for a certain instability and fickleness of character; presenting a 
striking contrast to the more regular and settled habits which are 
established in countries where climate subjects the working-classes to 
fewer interruptions, and imposes on them the necessity of a more 
constant and unremitting employment." 



^66 CLIMATE ON MAN. 

North America. — The same diversity in the 
habits of the people and their business pursuits, is 
to be found as we trace the isotherms 40° and 70° 
across the North American Continent. The Hne 
of 40° mean temperature nearly intersects Qiiebec, 
and thence strikes north of Lake Huron and the 
extremity of Keweenaw Point, on Lake Superior; 
when, leaving that lake, it is rapidly deflected 
northwardly to the Rocky Mountains, and reaches 
the Pacific Coast at or near Sitka. The line of 
70° mean temperature, starts on the Florida Coast 
below latitude 30°; ranges along the northern 
shore of the Gulf of Mexico, and is protracted 
west until it strikes the highlands of New Mexico; 
when it curves rapidly north as high as latitude 
35°; then it curves south, crossing above the head 
of the Gulf of California, and strikes the Pacific 
about latitude 30°. 

The region of the British Possessions, north of 
the isotherm 40°, is doomed to everlasting sterility. 
Its only available wealth is its fur-bearing animals; 
its only inhabitants, apart from the Indians, are rov- 
ing bands of trappers, — the employes of the Hud- 
son's Bay Fur-Company. It has no villages, except 
what are called Fur-Factories, which are depots 
for receiving and forwarding supplies. Nature is 
every where so inhospitable that there is no induce- 
ment to exercise that methodical industry, charac- 



NORTHERN ZONE. 367 

teristic of a more temperate climate. At Qiiebec, 
even, the business of the year is compressed within 
the short summer of ninety or one hundred days, 
succeeded by a long winter which, to the inhabi- 
tarft«« ivS a period of listless inactivity, when all the 
streams are bridged with ice, and the highways are 
obstructed by deep snows. An embargo is laid 
upon every thing. No rivers, no ships, no animals 
are to be seen, but an unbroken sheet of snow 
prevails, except where the forests and houses 
break the monotony. But this climate has its 
compensations. To the inhabitants, winter is the 
carnival season. They sally forth with horse and 
cariole, well protected from the frosty air by ample 
buffalo robes, and drive over the snow}' plain, 
where the course is indicated by pine branches, 
stuck up at frequent intervals. The long winter 
evenings are given up to social amusements, often 
enlivened by the dance, and every one considers 
it a duty to contribute something to break the 
otherwise listless tedium. In April the streams 
are unloosed, and the St. Lawrence is filled with 
floating masses of ice, freighted with fragments of 
earth and rock gathered from its upper source. 
Business is at once resumed with an activity which 
indicates an awakening from a long hybernation. 



368 CLIMATE ON MAN. 



Social Organization of the Southern States. — 
Directing our attention to the southern portion of 
this zone, embracing what are known as the Plant- 
ing States, we find that, before the Rebellion, a far 
different social organization prevailed from that 
characteristic of the Northern, Middle, and West- 
ern States. The climate is, during the summer, so 
hot and enervating, that it is shunned by the 
stranger of European descent, and even the accli- 
mated planter would fain seek the cool and invig- 
oratins: breezes of the north. The whole white 
population were averse to out-door labor, believing 
it ignoble; nor did the}' exhibit any aptitude for 
those mechanical and manufacturing pursuits which 
form so important an item in the industry of more 
temperate climes. Although nature had supplied 
a fruitful soil, and capable of producing those raw 
materials which enter so largely into commerce 
and manufactures, yet we find that they were 
exclusively raised by the ph3'sical exertions of 
those who had little or no share in the proceeds of 
sale; and, at the same time, the business of convey- 
ing' them to market and converting them into use- 
ful forms, was confided to strangers. 

Society was separated, by an impassable gulf, 
into two classes, — the planter and the slave. The 
planter possessed a sort of suavity of manner that 
passed for high breeding. He was generous in 



SOCIETY AT THE SOUTH. 369 

his hospitalities and profuse in his expenditures. 
While exhibiting a certain degree of intellectual 
vigor, he was averse to that patient study and that 
continuous train of thought, by w^hich substantial 
results are wrought out; and hence, his contribu- 
tions to science and literature, but above all, to 
the practical arts of life, have been insignificant. 
Possessed of an abundance of leisure, politics be- 
came to him a source of excitement, and place an 
object of ambition. Accustomed to rule over 
slaves, he firmly believed in the miserable soph- 
ism of Burke, that where slavery prevails, " those 
who are free, are far more proud and jealous of 
their freedom; and that the haughtiness of dominion 
combines with the spirit of freedom, fortifies it, and 
renders it invincible." This spirit was carried 
into the halls of national legislation, and its display 
was often offensive to the representatives of other 
sections. 

On the other side of the gulf, was the slave 
whom a long course of oppression had rendered 
docile, and wholly subservient to the will of his 
master. " His only business was to labor, his only 
duty to obey." The negro, undoubtedly, is far bet- 
ter fitted for a southern climate than the white 
man. He will toil beneath a hot, burning sun, 
when the white man will wilt, or in the rice- 
swamps of the Carolinas, whose miasms, generated 
24 



370 CLIMATE ON MAN. 

in stagnant waters, are shunned even by the accli- 
mated planter. Patient of toil, confiding, and sus- 
ceptible of strong personal attachments, with a vein, 
too, of deep religious feeling, he has ever been the 
faithful all}' of the white man, and has manifested 
no desire to strike out independent paths for self- 
exertion. While the former was restless under 
imaginary grievances, and plunged the country 
into war for the maintainance of a theoretical senti- 
ment, the latter did not repine under his unmiti- 
gated lot; and, throughout the Rebellion, with the 
prospect of freedom within his grasp, in no instance 
did he turn upon his task-master. He organized 
no conspirac}^, he committed no atrocit}', but was 
content to cultivate the field while his master went 
to the war; and in those instances where he sought 
his freedom, it was by flight to the lines of the 
invader. 

But this system of oppression has been swept 
away. The negro is now invested with citizen- 
ship. He has a voice in the making of the laws 
by which he is governed. He is free to appropri- 
ate the wealth which his own industry creates. 
The vision of the poet has been realized: 

" Their vines a shadow to theii" race shall yield, 
And the same hand that sowed, shall reap the field." 

Let us trust that, in the new relations he assumes, 



SOCIETY AT THE NORTH. 37 1 

he will acquit himself as a worthy and dutiful 
citizen. 

Social Oro;anizatio)i at the North. — Turnins: 
now to the central portion of this belt, embracing 
New England, the Middle, and Western States, we 
find society organized on a basis of equality, with 
far different social and business pursuits. The peo- 
ple exhibit methodical industry-, provident habits, 
and a spirit to adopt and improve upon the practi- 
cal arts of life. This spirit is manifested in accu- 
mulated wealth, in inventive capacity, in labor- 
saving machinery, and in associated capital to carry 
out gigantic schemes, be3'ond the means of a 
single individual however opulent. Their prac- 
tical benevolence and desire for improvement, are 
exemplified in the various institutions founded for 
intellectual culture and for the relief of the ills 
incident to humanity. To labor is not ignoble, and 
the climate is such that while the labor enriches, 
it does not exhaust. 

Here are brought the crude materials of other 
zones — the products of agriculture, of the forests, 
of the sea, and of the mines, — to undergo mechan- 
ical and chemical processes preparatory to their 
distribution and application to human comforts. 
The dense cloud of smoke that hangs over every 
cit}^, the ringing sound of the anvil, the loaded 



372 CLIMATE ON MAN. 

trains which constantl}^ arrive and depart, and the 
thronged streets where each passenger seems intent 
on some business errand, all indicate that a spirit 
of restless activity pervades and permeates the mass 
of inhabitants. Between the prosperous merchant 
and the da3'-laborer there exists a great dispropor- 
tion of wealth, but the lapse of a single genera- 
tion ordinarily scatters the most colossal fortune. 
Besides, those who possess such wealth, have been, 
for the most part, the architects of their own for- 
tunes, and the same avenues through which they 
passed, are open to all. 

This belt necessarily receives the bulk of immi- 
gration from the Old World, which now exceeds 
three hundred thousand souls each year. The 
Gulf-Stream is not more accurately defined than 
this flow of human life. The ports of this belt are 
open at all seasons; those of the St. Lawrence are 
blocked by ice one-half the year, while those 
of Charleston, Norfolk, and New Orleans are, 
for an equal length of time, scorched with heats 
so oppressive that the immigrant does not care to 
encounter them. Besides, he who has forsaken 
friends and country, often with nothing to rely 
upon but the full possession of his physical facul- 
ties — his ability to toil, — will naturally seek a 
new home where the climate is agreeable, and 
where labor is honorable. Hence, the South has 



THE REBELLION. 373 

heretofore held out few inducements to this class 
of population. 

There is no portion of the earth where man is 
so well clothed and fed, where the rewards of 
industry are so certain, and where life and property 
are so secure as here; and society may be said 
to have attained the highest degree of perfection. 
Artificial distinctions, arising from the accident of 
birth or the accumulation of wealth, are not recog- 
nized; and the unrestrained freedom of the indi- 
vidual, in the exercise of his physical and intel- 
lectual powers in a manner not inconsistent with 
the public w^elfare, is amply secured. 

Effect of these Dfferences^ seen in the Rebel- 
lion. — The differences in the local organization 
between the two sections of the Republic, were so 
great as to be irreconcilable; and every calm 
observer of events, foresaw that whatever tempo- 
rary expedients were resorted to, there must ulti- 
mately come a rupture. Tiie South, though out- 
numbered in population, through their unity of 
action and compact organization, had been able to 
possess the Government and to dictate its policy, 
almost uninterruptedly, from its origin; but when 
they saw that the sceptre of their power was about 
to depart, they took the initiative, fully believing 
that they could found a government based on 



374 CLIMATE ON MAN. 

human slavery. They overestimated the value 
of their products, because they went abroad to 
adjust national balances. The}' also believed that 
commercial necessity would sanction a sj^stem of 
compulsory labor, which was condemned by the 
enlightened sentiment of every Christian commu- 
nity. They underestimated the force of that great 
moral sentiment underlying all legislation, before 
which human statutes, conceived in a spirit of tem- 
porary expediency, and however solemnly enacted, 
must sooner or later give way. The}^ underrated, 
too, the strength of the people of the North, who, 
though less impulsive and mercurial, had an indom- 
itable will, a tenacity of purpose backed by num- 
bers, and a fertility of resources in skilled labor, 
machiner}', and in reserved capital brought out and 
tendered to the Government in the hour of need, 
which gave assurance that, however protracted the 
contest, the issue could not be doubtful. Great as 
was the expenditure of treasure and of blood, it 
was incurred without repining. There was one 
all-prevailing sentiment, originating in convictions 
of temporal prosperity, and, also, in the higher con- 
victions of religious duty and of national grandeur, 
that the Republic must be preserved, — and pre- 
served, too, stripped of those elements which, from 
its origin, had been the source of its weakness. 



PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT, 375 

RESUME. 

From this survey it will be seen that, only under 
certain favored latitudes, has man attained to his 
full physical development, and exhibited that 
"sanctity of reason" — that divinity of mind, — 
which distinguishes him so preeminently above 
the brute. 

The region of the Black Sea is supposed to have 
been the original seat of the Caucasian race, — a 
race in which the moral feelings and the intel- 
lectual powers, as well as the beauty and perfection 
of the physical structure, have been in the highest 
degree displayed. Between this region and the 
prairie region of the West, the conditions of soil 
and climate are, in a marked degree, similar. If, to 
climatic causes, we are to attribute the diversities of 
character in the great family of man, it may be 
said, that here exist those conditions best fitted for 
the development of his physical and intellectual 
nature. * 

* In a region which has been populated so rapidly as the Western 
States, and where immigrants form so large an element of that popu- 
lation, it would be unsafe to draw conclusions as to the effects of the 
climate on physical development; but it may be stated, that the aver- 
age height of nearly 26,000 recruits to the volunteer regiments of the 
United States, during the late Rebellion, (three-fifths of whom were 
gathered in the States of Michigan, Iowa, Indiana, and Minnesota, 
and two-fifths from the New England States), was 68 yVo inches. 

The average height of nearly 28,000 soldiers recruited for the British 
Army, for i860, was 66 y"y*'y inches. 

The average height of French conscripts for thirty years, — 1831-62 — 
was 65 yVir inches. 



37^ 



CLIMATE ON MAN. 



Unfortunately, we have not measurements of the circumference of 
the chest, weight, tests of muscular lifting-strength, and capacity of 
chest, as determined by the spirometer, so far as relates to the Western 
recruits, for the purposes of comparison with the recruits and con- 
scripts of other nations; but the facts already quoted, show that in 
height, at least, they are superior. (See an elaborate paper by E. B. 
Elliot, submitted to the International Congress, at Berlin, 1863, on 
"The Military Statistics of the United States.") 



CHAPTER XII. 

ORIGIN OF CIVILIZATION. 

VALLEY OF THE MISSISSIPPI, ITS PROSPECTIVE POPULATION 

GREECE, THE CRADLE OF CIVILIZATION ROME, THE INHER- 
ITOR OF THAT CIVILIZATION ORIGIN OF TEUTONS AND 

CELTS CHARACTERISTICS OF EACH RACE COLONIZATION 

OF NORTH AMERICA TEUTONIC AND CELTIC COLONIZATION 

CONTRASTED NATIONAL UNITY CAUSES WHICH PROMOTE 

IT ENGLISH CHARACTER ITS HOMOGENEITY AS COM- 
PARED WITH THAT OF THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED 

STATES THE CIVILIZING EFFECTS OF THE CHRISTIAN 

RELIGION. 

The valley of the Mississippi and the region of the 
Great Lakes, are destined, before the close of the 
century, to become the abode of fifty millions of 
the Teutonic race, speaking the English language, 
and developing a peculiar civilization. Since first 
known to history, they have exhibited certain idio- 
syncracies, both as individuals and as members of 
the body politic, which have widely separated them 
from the Celtic or Latin race. It, therefore, be- 
comes a matter of interest to inquire into the origin 
of that civilization, of which they are the peculiar 
exponents. In tracing up the stream of history, it 



37^ ORIGIN OF CIVILIZATION. 

will be found that they have always displayed a 
sturdy independence, a freedom of will, and a self- 
governing capacity which belong to no other race. 
They are the only people who, in modern times, 
have founded stable governments, either of repre- 
sentative monarchy or representative democracy. 

Greece, the Cradle of our Civilization. — Our 
civilization, appropriating the term to the advance- 
ment which modern nations have made in art, 
science, and literature, is directly traceable to 
Greece. In her we recoo^nize the source from 
which we derive our knowledge of all those arts 
which embellish civilized life. She communicated 
the first impulse, by which the human mind was 
lead to enter upon those trains of thought, which 
have resulted in our social and intellectual eleva- 
tion. She has been, in fact, the mother of nations, 
teaching her offspring those great principles of 
public faith and public honor which, though often 
violated, have yet influenced the conduct of the 
world's aftairs. And when we consider the topo- 
graphical features of that wonderful country, its 
soil and climate, we shall see that they were such 
as to make her the most favored of nations; and 
that she occupied a position to collect and absorb 
whatever of art or science there was in the bar- 
baric world. 



GRECIAN CIVILIZATION. 379 

It is true that she recognized human slavery, but 
this blot upon her career is compensated by the 
nobler g'ifts of virtue and ofenius. " Each of her 
citizens was a freeman, who dared to assert the 
liberty of his thoughts, words, and actions; whose 
person and property were guarded by equal laws; 
and who exercised his independent vote in the 
government of the Republic."'^ 

The inhabitants of Greece possessed a soil of 
great natural fertility which was rendered more 
fruitful by cultivation. They dwelt beneath a sky 
of great serenity, and in a climate which was favor- 
able to the full development of the physical and 
intellectual man. The relief and depression of the 
surface was such as to give origin to a diversified 
landscape; — rugged peaks, thickly-wooded slopes, 
luxuriant meadows, precipitous water-falls, running 
brooks, and an ocean sublime in the play of its 
constantly-changing tints; and thus they were 
brought in intimate communion with the noblest 
aspects of nature, which left an indelible impress 
upon their imaginations, reflected in their poetic 
works, their orator}^, and even their architecture. 

Her deeply-indented shores, washed on the one 
hand by the Adriatic, and on the other by the 
^gsean, with its archipelago of islands, — serving 
both as landmarks to guide the adventurous navi- 

* Gibbon. " Decline and Fall." Chap. 48. 



380 ORIGIN OF CIVILIZATION. 

gator in his course, and as places of refuge in a 
storm, — tended to develop a maritime spirit among 
her people, which led them gradually to extend 
their voyages to the entire coasts of the Mediter- 
ranean and Black Seas. Commerce, thus inau- 
gurated, was the great civilizer. In this intercourse, 
they became acquainted with the discoveries and 
inventions of surrounding nations, which they 
adopted and improved upon; and even the ele- 
ments of their philosophy were derived from for- 
eign sources. So humanizing has this spirit proved, 
that it may be said that no nation, isolated from the 
sea, has ever attained to a high state of civiliza- 
tion. 

Under such conditions of soil and climate, the 
Greeks developed a degree of culture whose influ- 
ence has attended the intellectual man in all of his 
migrations. Whatever there is of heroic action in 
human conduct; whatever there is of intensity of 
expression in the passions; whatever there is of 
sublimity in poetic diction or oral discourse; what- 
ever there is that relates to the beauty of the human 
form, or the just proportions of human structures, 
as manifested in sculpture and architecture; was 
displayed in all of its perfection by these Hellenic 
tribes. 



ORIGIN OF TEUTONS AND CELTS. 38 1 

Ro m e, th e In heritor ofth is Civ ilizatio n. — Fro ra 
this source, the Romans derived their civiHzation 
and their knowledge of the arts; and even after 
they had subdued, b}' the pov^er of numbers, that 
magnificent territor}^, their statesmen and poets 
did not hesitate to resort to the vanquished for 
instruction, and adopt their illustrious names as 
exemplars for their own guidance. At the dawn 
of the Christian Era, the Roman Empire is com- 
puted to have extended over 400,000 square miles. 
It reached from the western extremity of Europe 
to the Euphrates, and from Gaitulia south to the 
confines of the Libyan Desert, comprehending 
the greater portion of the known world. In their 
career of conquest, the Romans had annexed not 
onl}^ Greece, with all her art and refinement, but 
also that region which is supposed to have been 
the cradle of the race, and where God had conde- 
scended to hold intercourse with man, and pro- 
claim His will. Every known tribe and kindred 
rendered tribute to the Caesars, and even our 
Saviour recognized the civil obligation. 

Origin of Teutons and Celts. — To the north 
of Italy and beyond the Alps, lay a country divided 
into several principalities, known as Celto-Galatia, 
Germania, Cimbrica, and Scandiae Insulae, compre- 
hending northern France, Germany, and Sweden, 



382 ORIGIN OF CIVILIZATION. 

whose people, born beneath a cooler sky, and in a 
less enervating climate, and nurtured in a manner 
"which required, from necessity, the practice of the 
hardier virtues of temperance, both in eating and 
drinkinsf, were destined to subvert the Roman Em- 
pire and establish dynasties of their own upon its 
ruins, and to become even, the dominant race of 
the world. Little is known of these people prior 
to the invasion of their country by Ccesar. He 
found the valley of the Rhine mainly occupied by 
tribes of the Celtic family, while the frontiers were 
possessed by the Teutonic or German tribes. 
Thus, the population was partly Celtic and partly 
German, but both were branches probably of the 
great Indo-European family of the Caucasian type. 
Motley thus describes the characteristics of each: 

" Physically the two i*aces resembled each other. Both 
were of vast stature. The gigantic Gaul derided the Roman 
soldiers as a band of pigmies. The German excited astonish- 
ment by his huge body and muscular limbs. Both were fair, 
with fierce blue eyes, but the Celt had yellow hair floating 
over his shoulders, and the German long locks of fiery red, 
which he even dyed with ivoad [a plant growing in the tem- 
perate zone from which indigo is extracted] to heighten the 
favorite color, and wore twisted into a war-knot upon the top 
of his head." * 

The Roman Empire contained the elements of 
its own dissolution ; and it is well, perhaps, for the 

* "Dutch Republic." Vol.1. 



ORIGIN OF TEUTONS AND CELTS. 383 

progress of the race, that this vast fabric, reared 
with so much toil and cemented by so much blood, 
was leveled to the ground by the pressure of its 
own weight. When the Roman soldier was so far 
enervated by luxury that he could not sustain the 
heavy armor, or wield the heavy weapons of his 
ancestors, he became an easy victim to the missile 
weapons of the Goth and Hun. The short sword 
and the pilum, with which the ancient Romans had 
subdued the world, dropped from the nerveless 
arms of their effeminate descendants. They were 
fain to recruit their armies from the ranks of the 
Barbarians, and confide to them the public defence. 
The foreign soldiers who had thus been incorpo- 
rated into the Roman army, and subjected to 
its discipline, were they who subverted the Empire 
and founded dynasties on its ruins. The victori- 
ous Goths, fortunately for the cause of humanity, 
renounced their ancient superstitions, and adopted 
the Christian faith; and, at the same time, they 
received the use of letters so essential to the under- 
standing of the Sacred Book, nor did they reject 
the inestimable treasures of ancient learning, pre- 
served in the Greek and Latin languages. Thus 
the vanquished Romans communicated to the vic- 
tors their religion, their language, their laws, and 
whatever of constitutional liberty they possessed.* 

* Vide Gibbon's "Decline and P'all." Passim, Chap. XXVIII., 
XXX., XXXVI. 



3S4 ORIGIN OF CIVILIZATION. 

At the middle of the seventh century, we find 
the scale of their dominion contracted to the nar- 
row limits of a small tract in Southeastern Eu- 
rope, — to the lonely suburbs, as the great historian 
expresses it, of Constantinople; and in the mean- 
while were laid the foundations of those govern- 
ments, carved out of Roman territory, which, in 
modern times, have monopolized the arts, the 
sciences, and the civilization of the world. 

Theodoric, Clovis, and Alboin, who thus founded 
d3'nasties out of the conquered provinces of the 
Roman Empire, were of Teutonic origin. 

At this da}^, the Celtic division of the Indo-Eu- 
ropean family occupies Spain, Portugal. France, 
and parts of Belgium, Switzerland, and Britain; 
while the Teutonic division occupies Norway, 
Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Holland, and parts 
of Belgium, Switzerland, and Britain. Each, too, 
has distinct national characteristics which have 
clung to him in all of his subsequent migrations. 

The Teuto7i. — The Teuton is fond of independ- 
ence, and is little disposed to surrender his will to 
the control of another. He is restless under even 
venial grievances, and claims to be heard in the 
making of the laws by which he is to be governed. 
Hence, the governments founded by him, are either 
a representative monarchy, or a representative de- 



CELTIC CHARACTERISTICS. 385 

mocracy. He makes a good colonist, adapts him- 
self readily to altered conditions, and evinces a 
power for self-government. Wherever settled, his 
love of free thought, and his disres^ard of cere- 
monies, have made him a Protestant in religion, 
with a strong tendency to divide into a multiplicity 
of sects, and upon points of doctrine which, we 
would fain believe, are not essential to salvation. 
While the invigorating climate of the temperate 
zone is best adapted to his full development, he 
has pushed his conquests to the remotest parts of 
the earth; and wherever he has come in contiict 
with other races, he has proved himself the victor. 

The Celt. — The Celt has never exhibited the 
same desire for personal freedom and civil liberty. 
He has been content to live under an absolute 
or slightly limited monarchy; and in those in- 
stances where he has thrown off the yoke of 
oppression and founded republics, as in South 
America, the}' have proved but another name for 
anarchy and misrule. With a disposition to super- 
stiuon and a blind observance of forms, he is every 
where found the zealous and devoted adherent of 
the Catholic Church, whose imposing ceremonies 
awe his imagination, and captivate his judgment. 
Without protest, he surrenders his individual will 
to that of his superior, and submits to his teachings 
25 



386 ORIGIN OF CIVILIZATION. 

with an unquestioning faith. Plence, the uniformit}- 
of belief, — hence, the universality of the Catholic 
Church. Its doctrines are the same, whether ex- 
pounded beneath the vaulted dome of St. Peter's, 
beneath the palm-thatched hut upon the banks of 
the Amazon, or in the log-cabin beneath the hyper- 
borean sky of Lake Superior. 

It is a striking historical fact, that the principles 
of the Reformation have never taken root in the 
purely Celtic regions, while they were at once 
accepted in those of the Teuton, and have accom- 
panied him throughout all of his migrations. In 
the Old World, the boundaries between Catholi- 
cism and Protestantism remain about the same as 
at the death of the Great Reformer; and in the 
New World, the currents, springing from two dis- 
tinct fountains, have flowed side by side, without 
any tendency to commingle. 

The Celt loves the soft and balmy air of the 
tropics; and hence, in the New World, he relapsed 
into a life of luxurious ease, which the equable 
climate and the profusion of nature greatly encour- 
aged; and to attain this end, he did not hesitate to 
press into his service the unrequited toil of an 
inferior race. But, beneath the glare of a Northern 
sky, where, to sustain life, were required unremit- 
ting exertions, all of his attempts at colonization 
have proved signal failures. In his contact with 



COLONIZATION OF NORTH AMERICA. 3S7 

the aboriginal tribes, he has evinced a disposition 
to descend to their level, rather than to exalt them 
to his own standard of excellence. 

Colonization of North America. — On the 7 th 
of October, 1492, in mid-ocean, Pinzon, the com- 
panion of Columbus, observed a flight of parrots 
winging their way to the southwest, in consequence 
of which the course of the exploring expedition was 
changed to that direction; and ere long, instead of 
the "solid continent," the West-Indian Isles greeted 
the longing gaze of the adventurers. This appar- 
ently insignificant event, as remarked by the histo- 
rian, had an all-controlling influence upon the desti- 
nies of the people of this Continent. It diverted the 
Celtic or Latin colonization, represented by the 
Spanish and Portuguese nations, to the tropical and 
southern portion of the hemisphere, while it left 
open to the Teuton, represented by the English and 
the German, the northern portion. 

Thus, then, to these two great branches of the 
human family, was confided the task of subduing a 
hemisphere. Although the French and Spanish 
acquired a foothold upon the northern portion, and 
invested the narrow belt of Teutonic settlement on 
the Atlantic border, yet they were ultimately ex- 
pelled, and the whole Continent was surrendered 
to the dominion of the Teutonic race; and now, 



388 ORIGIN OF CIVILIZATION. 

after the lapse of less than four centuries, how dif- 
ferent have been the results! 

The Celt had the advantage in the race, for the 
United States were not colonized until a century 
later than Spanish America. Nature, too, had 
apparently dealt more kindly with the one region 
than with the other. In the one, there were luxu- 
riant forests of extraordinary beauty, and bearing 
fruits most grateful to the appetite; and its fertile 
valleys and slopes were capable of rearing the 
coffee-plant and sugar-cane, whose products are so 
highly prized by all civilized nations. The tempe- 
rature of the one was so mild and unvarying that 
little protection was required beyond a tent, or a 
thatch of palm-leaves; but, above all, and this was 
the most attractive feature to the adventurers, nearly 
all the streams rolled down their golden sands. 
Thus, in this serene and equable climate, sur- 
rounded by a profusion of vegetable forms which 
yielded their spontaneous fruits, and with a soil 
whose quickening powers produced those luxuries 
most highly esteemed by man, nature oftered to the 
colonist an easy and indolent life. 

The other region furnished a soil of indifferent 
fertility, covered with a forest which must be sub- 
dued before it was fitted for cultivation; and its 
wealth was extracted only after long and assiduous 
labor, going through the routine of seed-time and 



MODERN CIVILIZATION. 389 

harvest, and garnering up, with economic care, and 
storing away the crops for future use. The chmate 
was so inhospitable that elaborate houses were to 
be constructed, and every precaution taken to keep 
out the wintry blasts. 

Thus, the differences of soil and climate were 
calculated to generate ditferences in the character 
of the two races. In the one case, with habits 
of order and intelligent industry, and with an apti- 
tude for self-government, the people have built up 
a social system the best ever devised for the happi- 
ness of man, and developed a strength and unity 
which have made them the most powerful nation 
of the earth; while, in the other, whatever devel- 
opment of material resources has been made, is the 
result, in the main, of compulsory labor, extorted 
from an inotfensive race; and whatever govern- 
ments have been instituted, by whatever name 
called, they have afforded little security to life or 
property. 

Thus it will be seen, that our modern civiliza- 
tion has been a plant of slow growth, originating 
under peculiar conditions of soil and climate, and 
propagated only over such portions of the earth's 
surface as afforded similar conditions. Personal 
servitude was a part of the civilization of Greece 
and Rome; and the Barbaric tribes, in their primi- 
tive settlements, were accustomed to reduce not 



390 ORIGIN OF CIVILIZATION. 

only their captives, but their criminals, and even 
those who had incurred the obligation of debt 
"which they could not discharge, to this condition. 
Hence, then, among every nation, from the earliest 
times, and continued until times comparatively 
recent, slavery has been the lot of the greater por- 
tion of mankind. Its abolition, by the most en- 
lightened nations of Christendom, certainly affords 
substantial evidence of the progress of humanity. 

Natio7ial Unity. — European philosophers, spec- 
ulating on the origin of our people, derived from 
so many sources and composed of elements so 
discordant, have predicted for the American Re- 
public a short-lived career. The only disturbing 
cause — human slavery — which, from the outset, 
has proved the source of deep-seated discord and 
internecine strife, and which, in its culmination, 
threatened the disruption of the Republic, has hap- 
pily been removed; and, great as has been the 
expenditure of treasure and blood, no true patriot 
can regret the sacrifice, in view of the permanent 
benefit which has resulted to the cause of free 
institutions. 

There are several causes which have contributed 
to the fusion of our people into a nearly homoge- 
neous union. Among these may be enumerated 
the democratic tendencies of our institutions, where 



NATIONAL UNITY. 



391 



each elector is required to pass upon the measures, 
not only of the National and State legislatures, but 
even those relating to the details of township organ- 
izations; and if he fail to arrive at independent 
conclusions by reading and reflection, he has at 
least the advantage of hearing such measures dis- 
cussed by those w^ho have informed themselves. 

Next may be mentioned the system of common 
schools, where all of the youth are brought under 
such a system of instruction as to qualify them for 
the ordinary pursuits of life. This tends to fix the 
principles of the language and produce a uniformity 
of pronunciation. Webster's Spelling Book was 
issued as far back as 1783, and since that time 
probably more than fifty millions of copies have 
been published, and it is yet retained as a text- 
book in the schools. 

Next may be mentioned the press, whose free- 
dom is expressly guarded by constitutional enact- 
ments. The conductors of the press not onl}'' 
inform the people of current events, but they 
express the public sentiment and often create that 
sentiment. Every projected measure, at the pres- 
ent day, is fully discussed outside the halls of 
legislation, before it becomes incorporated into the 
statute-book. The power thus wielded over the 
morals, the intelligence, the habits, and pursuits of 
the people, is a tremendous one; and the experience 



392 ORIGIN OF CIVILIZATION. 

of nearly a century, since all restrictions were 
thrown off, has proved that little is to be feared 
from Its licentiousness. The electric telegraph, 
too, has become its ally In the diffusion of intelli- 
gence, and there is hardly a well-to-do farmer on 
the verge of settlement, who Is not, at the end of 
the week, fully advised as to what has transpired in 
the busy world. A free press, having the ear of 
the whole communit}', and acting as a public In- 
structor, is essentlall}' an American institution. 
Wherever a colony is planted, and the people 
aggregated Into a village, there, too, is to be found 
the newspaper. 

Last, but not least, may be mentioned the close 
commercial relations which exist between widely- 
separated parts, and the ease and expedition, 
through navigable rivers and Innumerable rail- 
roads, by which those relations are maintained. 
There are few Americans who do not visit some 
one of the commercial centres at least once a year, 
while the mercantile class penetrates to the re- 
motest hamlets. This direct Intercourse tends to 
break down provincial antipathies, to produce a 
homogeneity of character, and to bind together all 
classes and conditions of men. The infusion, too, 
each year, of large bodies of Immigrants into the 
New States from regions widely-separated, destroys 
all tendency to a clannish spirit, and leads to the 



NATIONAL UNITY. 393 

formation of new associations, independent of birth 
and nationality. Thus, it may be said, that the 
Western people exhibit a far more cosmopolitan 
spirit than those of the Older States. In such a 
mixed community, provincialisms of speech are at 
once observed and criticised; and, without criti- 
cism, the provincial man is insensible to his errors. 
Language is the strongest bond of union, and it is 
spoken with the greatest purity, where the inter- 
course between the different parts of the country 
is most intimate. The attrition, so to speak, which 
is constantly going on between the individual mem- 
bers of a society thus constituted, tends to rub off" 
the angularities of character and produce a homo- 
geneous union. 

In the higher walks of science and literature, 
while we have accomplished much, 3'et it must be 
confessed, that we have not attained to that com- 
manding rank which is to be desired; but in a 
country where there are few hereditary fortunes 
which permit the inheritors to indulge in a course 
of travel or learned ease, and where the investment 
of capital is so remunerative, it is idle to expect 
that a large body of men, corresponding to what 
are known as "German students," should be ab- 
stracted from the active pursuits of life. " The 
state of a nation," as long ago remarked by Dr. 
Johnson, "is the state of common life;" — and if 



394 ORIGIN OF CIVILIZATION. 

we go to our farm-houses, our work-shops, and fac- 
tories, and inquire into the condition of those who 
hold the plough, or forge the iron, or weave the 
warp, we shall find a degree of thrifty industry, of 
sturdy independence, and general information, such 
as are possessed by no other people. Combining 
the land-grants of Congress for agricultural col- 
leges, and the school-funds of the several States, as 
well as the voluntary endowments of individuals, 
it may be boldly asserted that no nation has made 
such liberal appropriations for the cause of educa- 
tion as the United States. 

Under these influences the American character 
has already acquired a distinctive national type, 
whose elements are not a conglomerated mass, but a 
crystallization into definite forms and angles. Take 
such an assemblage as the Congress of the United 
States. Trace back the ancestry of each individual 
member for a few generations, and see the difTer- 
cnt stocks from which they draw their origin. He 
may be the descendant of one of the Puritans who 
came over in the Ma3'flower; of a substantial 
burgher of Bruges, who loaned his credit to the 
Prince of Orange; of a. God-fearing Huguenot, 
driven out of France by the treachery of Henry 
of Navarre; of an Irish Catholic who fought the 
" bloody Oliver " at Drogheda, or William III. at 
the Boyne ; or of the peace-loving courtier, William 



NATIONAL UNITY. 395 

Penn; or of the gentle-minded Roger Williams, 
who founded Rhode Island; — yet, among these 
men there is as strong a spirit of national pride as 
among the peers of England, who can trace their 
lineage to William the Norman. 

In the settlement of the United States, there have 
been no barriers sufficiently formidable to check, 
except temporarily, the flow of population. Those 
barriers are, or soon will be, eflectually overcome, 
and intimate commercial relations will be estab- 
lished with every part of the Republic, producing 
homogeneity of character. Go into the Highlands 
of Scotland, and you will see at this day some de- 
scendant of the Gramme, or the Campbell, clothed 
in his kilt; go to the miner's cabin in Colorado, 
and you will see the mistress of that rude abode 
wearinof a bonnet of a fashion received in New 
York a month previousl}'. Discordant, then, as the 
elements of our population may seem, there is an 
all-pervading spirit whose influence is to blend and 
harmonize the materials into a homogeneous union. 

Our population, then, may be compared not 
inaptly to the Great River, whose regimen we 
have attempted to describe. Its waters, springing 
from fountains far remote, and under different con- 
ditions of sky, are first gathered into trickling rills 
which, increased by fresh affluents, expand into 
brooklets, and then into broad streams. As the 



39^ ORIGIN OF CIVILIZATION. 

river advances in its course, it absorbs tributary 
after tributary, each nearly as large as itself, until 
its rolls on a uniform volume, broad and deep, — the 
emblem of restless power, — floating upon its sur- 
face richl3^-laden barges, supporting on its banks 
populous cities, and diffusing blessings over a con- 
tinent. 

Other nations have attained to greatness, or 
maintained it, through the power of their aristocrac}', 
or the far-seeing sagacity of a single controlling 
mind, like that of Alexander, or Caesar, or Charle- 
magne, or Napoleon. While we have produced 
great men, it may be said that we have produced 
no one man, (not excepting Washington), who 
has impressed his policy on the nation. While we 
have developed such marvelous resources, such a 
commercial spirit, such a productive industry, and 
such a power to subjugate a continent, — these 
results have been achieved by the recognition of 
the doctrine of the sovereignty of the people, and 
their will as supreme in the legislation of the 
country. 

English Character. — The English are regarded 
as a homogeneous people; and the Englishman has 
peculiarities, both mental and corporeal, by which 
he can be recognized the world over; yet in his 
veins flows the mingled blood of Celt, Goth, Saxon, 



ENGLISH CHARACTER. 397 

Dane, ana Norman; and out of this amalgamation 
of races, has sprung a nation with a distinctive char- 
acter, which is perpetuated from one generation to 
another. 

While a fusion so thorough and effectual, had 
taken place centuries ago among the people of the 
Lowlands, beyond the Cheviot Hills, amid the 
Highlands of Scotland, — about the same distance 
from London that the Adirondacks are from New 
York, — there dwelt, and yet dwells, a race of men, 
under different conditions of soil and climate, who 
have persistently clung to the traditions of their 
ancestors, and resisted all attempts to intermingle. 
It is only as far back as 1773, that Dr. Johnson 
published his " Tour to the Hebrides," in which he 
describes the manners and customs of a people as 
different from the English, as though they belonged 
to the antipodes. 

In another portion of the empire, embracing 
seven millions of people, there has been, for centu- 
ries, a war of races and religions, at times so fierce 
as to lead to the distraction of the country and the 
depopulation of its cities; and, at this day, the feel- 
ing of discontent towards the throne is as deep- 
seated and intense as at any time in the previous 
history of the union. A native historian has had 
the boldness to expose the national crimes and 
follies which have been practiced upon this mem- 



398 ORIGIN OF CIVILIZATION. 

ber of the empire, — " but a withered and distorted 
member, adding no strength to the body politic, 
and reproachfully pointed at by all who feared or 
envied the greatness of England." * 

The diffusion of language is, perhaps, the most 
conclusive evidence of the homogeneity of a peo- 
ple; and we venture the assertion, that the tongue 
of Shakspeare and of Milton, is spoken with greater 
precision and purity by the mass of the people of 
the United States, than by the inhabitants of the 
British Isles. In estimating their intelligence, we 
are apt to form our own conclusions from our knowl- 
edge of those who have graduated in the univer- 
sities, and have had the benefits of foreign travel 
and observation. But this view is erroneous. 
When we descend to the sub-stratum of society to 
determine the degree of intelligence, we shall find 
that it is to be rated by a much lower standard. 
In Ireland, throughout pretty extensive districts, a 
dialect of Gaelic is spoken almost to the exclusion 
of the English; in the Highlands of Scotland, the 
Erse; and in Wales, a dialect different from both. 
But coming to England itself, the provincialisms 
of the districts of Northumberland, Yorkshire, and 
Cornwall, are broader and more uncouth than pre- 
vail in any portion of the United States. 

* Macaulaj. " History of England." 



THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 399 

" Language, more than any other attribute, forms 
a binding link among a people; — by its idiomatic 
properties it severs them." 

Civilizing Effects of the Christian Religion. — 
In tracing the career of a people — their progress 
in moral and intellectual development, in these 
modern times, no candid observer, even in a 
purely philosophical treatise, can justly ignore the 
influence of the Christian religion. And while it 
is to be deplored that the full force of those doc- 
trines, — first promulgated b}^ Him who, in a human 
light, was the son of a carpenter of Nazareth, and 
which were propagated by the humble fishermen 
of Galilee, — has been greatly impaired by the dis- 
sensions of the Christian church and its division 
into a multiplicity of sects; yet, as a -political ele- 
ment, Christianity has tended to make better citi- 
zens, more orderly, more sedate, and less given to 
turbulent passions; it has tended to awaken a 
spirit of national unity by making even the hum- 
blest feel that they were co-heirs in a common 
inheritance, and had a common object to accom- 
plish; and, at the same time, it has tended to 
establish a bond of unity between nations geo- 
graphically separated, by inculcating the doctrine 
that the rights of a people are not to be ruth- 
lessly stricken down by mere brute force. And 



400 ORIGIN OF CIVILIZATION. 

while this sentiment has not, in the conduct of the 
world's affairs, found its full expression, it has so 
far acquired a foothold that no ruler at this day, 
however powerful, dare venture upon a step which 
shall shock the enlightened sentiment of mankind. 
Christianity, in the general diffusion of its doc- 
trines among the people, has awakened thoughts of 
a nobler origin; has brought man within the sphere 
of higher impulses; has given him clearer ideas of 
his duties here and of his destiny hereafter; has 
laid the foundation of every scheme of practical 
and all-comprehensive benevolence; and has com- 
bined and crystallized a public sentiment, that gov- 
ernments are not instituted for the benefit of a 
particular class, but for the prosperity and well- 
being of the people; and finally and preeminently, 
it recognizes the common humanity of the whole 
family of man, and inculcates the necessity of 
breaking down those barriers which pride, and 
prejudice, and power, have been able to erect, 
throughout the world's history, to hamper the 
human race and to prevent them from assuming 
that position in the scale of creation, for which they 
were, of a aforetime, designed. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

PROGRESS OF DEVELOPMENT. 

ORDINANCE OF 1 787 FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF THE NORTH- 
WESTERN TERRITORY ITS EFFECT UPON THE CHARACTER 

OF THE COLONIZATION FIRST SETTLEMENT OF THE RE- 
GION RELATIVE GROWTH IN POPULATION AREA OF 

WESTERN STATES AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS THEIR RAPID 

INCREASE THE ASSESSED VALUE OF REAL AND PERSONAL 

PROPERTY INDIANS THEIR HABITS GOVERNMENT POLICY 

TOWARDS THEM THE MOUND-BUILDERS THEIR CIVILIZA- 
TION ANTiqyiTY OF THEIR WORKS CONCLUSION. 

Ordinance for the Government of the North- 
ivestern Territory^ and its Effects on the Char- 
acter of Colonization. — On the nth clay of July, 
1787, the Congress of the United States, sitting at 
New York, passed "An Ordinance for the Govern- 
nrent of the Territory of the United States, north- 
west of the Ohio." This region, at that time, was 
an unreclaimed wilderness — unvisited by the white 
man, if we except a few Moravian missionaries, 
who had penetrated to near the sources of the 
Muskingum, and established a mission on its 
banks, at a point above the present town of Cos- 



402 PROGRESS OF DEVELOPMENT. 

hocton, in the State of Ohio. The passage of this 
Ordinance, as justly remarked by Hildreth,* was a 
a measure second in importance only to the Con- 
stitution itself; for, by the sixth clause, the whole 
of this territory, out of which have been carved the 
five great States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michi- 
gan, and Wisconsin, was irrevocably dedicated 
to free labor. It was the turning point in the con- 
troversy which even then had enlisted the action 
of the statesmen of the two divisions of the Union, 
and which subsequently found its solution in the 
sword, — whether the States should exist all free or 
all slave. The South consented to its passage 
with the understanding, afterwards acted upon, of 
securing, under future cessions, the extension of 
slavery into the territory south of the Ohio River. 
This Ordinance was a measure of profound politi- 
cal sagacity, and one which, in the lapse of years, 
proved the salvation of the Republic. But for that, 
the people of the Border States of Virginia and 
Kentuck}', would have crossed over the boundary 
thus established, with their slaves, and the institu- 
tion of slavery would have taken root and flour- 
ished in a fertile soil, and amid a genial climate. 
As it was, when, in 1861, this question culminated, 
there were found, within this territory, seven mil- 
lions of people, educated in the belief that labor 

* " History of the United States." Vol. III. 



FIRST SETTLEMENT. 403 

was honorable, who rallied almost unanimously to 
uphold the Government, and evinced their patriot- 
ism by contributing to the army a relative numeri- 
cal strength far in excess of that of the New Eng- 
land or Middle States; and with no vaunting spirit, 
it may be said, that the men thus contributed, and 
the services which they performed, broke the power 
of the Rebellion. 

At the time of the adoption of the Ordinance, 
the Government, by treaties with the Six Nations, 
the Wyandots, the Delawares, and the Shawanese, 
had extinsruished the Indian title alonsr the northern 
bank of the Ohio, and for a considerable distance 
inland, as far west as the Wabash; and the territory 
thus secured, embraced seventeen millions of acres. 
Thus, this region became open to American coloni- 
zation only through the channel of the Ohio River. 
The French, however, as far back as 1720, built 
several forts within the present limits of the State 
of Illinois, of which Fort Chartres was the princi- 
pal. This was one of a chain which stretched 
from Canada to the mouth of the Mississippi. 

First Settlement. — There is not, in the whole 
history of the colonization of man, so striking an 
instance of the increase of population and of mate- 
rial wealth, as is exhibited in those States which 
occupy the Upper Valley of the Mississippi and the 



404 PROGRESS OF DEVELOPMENT. 

region adjacent to the Great Lakes, comprehend- 
ing Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, 
Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, and Kansas. In 1778, 
within the memory of men yet living, the first col- 
onists of English extraction, — gathered in Massa- 
chusetts, under the leadership of Rufus Putnam, — 
entered this region and established themselves at 
Marietta, where the Muskingum unites with the 
Ohio. This was the origin of that colonization 
which, in ninety years, has peopled this region with 
more than twelve millions of souls; has subdued 
and brought under cultivation an area nearl}^ twice 
as great as the cultivated land of England; has con- 
nected together the principal commercial points b}^ 
a net- work of railroads more that 12,000 miles in 
extent, at a cost exceeding $413,500,000, and 
whose annual earnings reach nearly $50,000,000; 
and has built up a domestic industry whose annual 
value is in excess of $300,000,000, giving origin to 
an internal trade far greater than the external 
trade of the whole country. 

In order to show the relative growth of the dif- 
ferent sections of the United States, the following 
table is submitted, compiled from the Census Re- 
turns of i860, in which the several States are 
grouped in reference to geographical position, 
climate, productions, and the business pursuits of 
the inhabitants: 



GROWTH OF POPULATION. 



405 



TABLE —SHOWING THE GROWTH OF POPULATION 
AND THE RATIO OF INCREASE. 



STATES, 



New England States — Maine, New 
Hampshire, Vermont, jNIassacliu- 
setts, Connecticut, & Rhode Island, 

Middle States — New York, New 
Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, 
and Maryland, ------- 

Central States (Slave) — Virginia, 
North Carolina, Tennessee, Ken- 
tucky, and Arkansas, ----- 

Planting States — South Carolina, 
Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mis- 
sissippi, Louisiana, and Texas, 

Pacific States — California, and 
Oregon, --------- 

Territories, -------- 

Western States — Ohio. Michigan, 
Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Min- 
nesota, Iowa, Missouri, and Kan- 
sas, ----------- 

Total population, ------ 



2,728,116 
6.573,301 

4,485.719 

3,770,640 

105,891 
124.618 

5,403,595 



23.191,876 



3,135,283 
8,258,150 

5,289.875 

4,969,142 

432,439 

295,275 

9,064,896 
31,445,080 






HtV 



25A 



I7A 



3ItV 



^•37tV 



67tV 



It will be seen that the ratio of increase in the 
Western States, between 1850-60, was more than 
two-fold greater than in any other section, except 
in the Pacific States and Territories, where the 
population was too insignificant to form a basis of 
comparison. 

That increase was 3,661,301, which is three-fold 
greater than the whole population of the Colonies 



4o6 PROGRESS OF DEVELOPMENT. 

in 1750, and more than 1,500,000 greater than the 
whole population of the United States, when, in 
1776, they declared their independence. 

With regard to the relative progress of settlement 
in the northern and southern belt of the Western 
States, it may be said, that population of Anglo- 
Saxon origin* began to flow into the latter region 
as early 1778, and continued without interruption. 
The region adjacent to Lake Erie was not sought 
by the immigrant, to any considerable extent, until 
after the completion, in 1825, of the New York and 
Erie Canal, opening the lake-region to the sea- 
board, — a work which will stand as an imperish- 
able monument to the genius of Clinton. The 

* The Romanic or Latin race was the first to discover and establish 
posts in tlie Great Vallej. 

In 1541, De Soto, then Governor of Cuba, made an overland expedi- 
tion from Florida to the Mississippi River, which he reached about 
latitude 35°, and was the first white man to gaze upon its turbulent 
flood. Crossing the river, he explored the country as far west as the 
Boston Mountains of Arkansas, and south to the Washita. Seeking 
to retrace his steps, he was stricken down by death, and his followers 
consigned his body to the middle current of the Great River which he 
had discovered. 

The discovery of the Upper Mississippi is to be ascribed to Mar- 
quette, a Jesuit missionary, and to Joliet, an envoy of France, of whom 
little is known except in connection with this event. On the tenth of 
June, 1673, with five French voyageurs and two canoes, they crossed 
the portage between the Fox and Wisconsin, and descended the latter 
stream to the Mississippi. Thence continuing the voyage, they reached 
Arkansas (about latitude 33°), when, finding the Indians hostile, they 
retraced their course. Arriving at the mouth of the Illinois, they 
passed, by that stream and the Des Plaines, to Chicago. Thus, then, 
they were the first white men to survey the site of what is now a 



EARLY SETTLEMENT, 407 

region west of Lake Michigan, was not open to 
settlement until after the close of the Black-Hawk 
War, in 1832. Thus, the southern belt had nearly 
a half century the start in the career of coloniza- 
tion; and, taking the National Road as the dividing 
line through the States of Ohio, Indiana, and Illi- 
nois, the population south of that line, in 1830, 
largely preponderated, and maintained its ascend- 
ency up to 1840; but, in 1850, the conditions were 

magnificent city. Before the close of September they reached Green 
Bay. Joliet hastened to Qj_iebec and there embarked for France. 

La Salle, residing at Fort Frontenac, inspired b}' the report of 
these discoveries, matured a plan to follow in their wake, and open the 
region to European commerce. Having received the sanction of the 
French minister, in 1679, ^^ built the Griffin on the Upper Niagara, 
the first vessel of any considerable size that spread her canvas on the 
Lakes. In this bark, he proceeded with a colony of fur-traders and 
attendants to Green Bay. The Griffin was despatched back, freighted 
with furs, but was never heard of afterwards. La Salle then voy- 
aged to St. Joseph's, near the head of Lake Michigan, where 
Alloiiez had planted the cross and gathered around him the Miamis. 
Penetrating the Illinois valley, he established Fort Crevecoeur, below 
Peoria, and thence despatched Hennepin to explore the Upper Missis- 
sippi. In 16S2, he descended the Great River to its mouth. In 1685, 
■with a fleet sent out from France, he atteinpted the colonization of the 
Lower Valley, but the colonists were carried beyond the mouth of the 
river, and landed on the Texas coast. Two years after, he was assas- 
sinated in attempting to return to Qiiebec. 

The French kept up their military occupation in Illinois. Kaskaskia 
is the oldest permanent settlement in the Great Valley. Fort Chartres 
was a principal rendezvous; Cahoika was founded below St. Louis, 
and Vincennes on the Wabash. 

By the peace of 1763, France ceded the territory east of the Missis- 
sippi to Great Britain, but formal possession was not had until 1765. 

During the colonial period, the British government endeavored to 
restrict settlements to the east of the Alleghanies, but while emigra- 
tion found its way through the passes to Tennessee, Kentucky, and 
Western Pennsylvania, the North West remained sealed to Anglo- 
Saxon settlement. 



4o8 PROGRESS OF DEVELOPMENT. 

reversed; and, in i860, the preponderance was 
largely in favor of the north. 

The southern region has a climate less rigorous, 
and a soil more fruitful and better adapted to 
stock-raising and the growth of Indian corn; but 
to the mass of immigrants the pure waters and the 
invigorating air of the lake-region have proved 
more congenial and attractive. 

Area. — The area of the eight Western States 
is 525,301 square miles, which is equivalent to 
326,192,640 acres, of which 52,199,050 acres are 
*' improved," but far from being cultivated in a 
manner to bring out the full capabilities of the soil. 
This would make the improved land equal to 18 
per cent, of the whole area. Portions of Michigan, 
Wisconsin, and Minnesota, adjacent to Lake Supe- 
rior, are not attractive to settlement by reason of 
the inhospitable climate, and the western half of 
Kansas by reason of the deficiency of rain; but, 
with suitable cultivation, it may be safely asserted 
that this area is capable of supporting 50,000,000 
of the human family. 

Agriciiltici-al Products. — The principal products 
of these States, in animal and vegetable food, are 
embraced in the table, page 241. They comprise 
more than 550,000,000 bushels of cereals, more than 
11,000,000 head of swine, and more than 7,200,000 



MATERIAL RESOURCES. 



409 



head of horned cattle. Relatively this group fur- 
nished 59 per cent, of all the wheat, 39 per cent, 
of all the oats, 56 per cent, of all the corn, 40 
per cent, of all the tobacco, 28 per cent, of all the 
cattle, and ^^ per cent, of all the swine, raised in 
the United States. The total value of the agricul- 
tural products in i860, was $1,159,605,660. 

The amount of cereals which annually flows out 
of this region to the Eastern markets, is not less 
than 100,000,000 bushels, and the product of 
pork is not less than 100,000,000 pounds. To 
move this large surplus of vegetable and animal 
food, gives employment, during the season of navi- 
gation, to more than 1,200 vessels, and to five lines 
of trunk railways, to say nothing of that portion 
which finds an outlet through the Mississippi 
River, or is sent to the Plains to supply the Mili- 
tary posts. The commerce of the Mississippi 
itself gives employment to about 1,200 steam- 
vessels, besides a large number of barges. 

Assessed Value of Property. — The assessed 
value of real estate and personal property in these 
States, — 1860, — was nearly $4,000,000,000, — an 
increase during the decade of more than 250 
per cent. The cash value of farms was nearly 
$2,500,000,000; of farming implements and ma- 



4IO PROGRESS OF DEVELOPMENT. 

chinery, $80,275,000; and of live stock, $382,- 
400,000. 

These facts render It obvious that the centre of 
population and productive industry, has already 
crossed the Alleghanies, and has become seated 
for all time in the Great Valley. Under a new ap- 
portionment of representation, the political power 
of this region will be dominant in shaping the 
legislation of the country. The physical combi- 
nations, which we have endeavored to elucidate, 
are such as to make it the seat of the most power- 
ful oro^anization of men that has ever been formed. 
This people will impress their peculiar civiliza- 
tion upon the whole country, and their influence 
will be felt and acknowledged by the nations of 
the earth. 

Having thus given a sketch of the progress of 
development in population and material resources 
under the colonization of the white man, it will 
not be deemed out of place to refer to the charac- 
teristics of that people who formerl}^ asserted their 
dominion over the whole of this region, but are 
now contracted, within narrow limits, on the 
Western Plains; and, also, to refer to that mys- 
terious race, of whom little is known, apart from the 
tumuli and embankments which are scattered along 
many of the river-valleys. A century hence, per- 



INDIAN CHARACTER. 4II 

haps, the memorials of the Indian will be less 
consipicuous than those of the Mound-Builders. 



THE INDIANS. 

During the whole history of the colonization of the 
white race on this Continent, a serious impediment 
has existed in the Indian, whom it has been found 
necessary to subdue and even to exterminate; — 
and a great deal of misplaced sympathy has been ex- 
pressed for his apparently irrevocable fate. There 
is not a State whose sod has not been drenched 
with the blood of the white man, shed in some 
border strife. Even now, not a year passes by 
without the perpetration of atrocities shocking to 
humanity. The sums which have been spent in 
Indian wars, and paid out under treaties, would 
cancel the national debt. The whole breadth of 
this Continent must now be appropriated to com- 
mercial intercourse, sure, safe, and expeditious. 
That intercourse must necessaril}' destroy the 
hunting-grounds of the Indian, and it becomes a 
question of a very serious character whether the 
policy heretofore pursued by the Government, is to 
be persisted in. Thus far, while we have prohib- 
ited other powers from trading or holding inter- 
course with the red man, we have so far recog- 



412 THE INDIANS. 

nized his nationality as to consent to enter into 
treaty stipulations with him. 

At the time of the occupancy by the European, 
of that portion of the Continent out of which have 
been carved the United States, the aboriginal in- 
habitants did not exceed 300,000, and that is the 
estimated number at this time, the greater portion 
of whom dwell on the western slope of the Great 
Valley. If they were all aggregated in one place 
and furnished with houses, they would form a city 
a little more populous than Chicago. They are, 
and always have been, separated into numerous 
tribes, between whose members there was no per- 
manent bond of union, but oftener open feuds. 
Having no knowledge of the arts beyond fashion- 
ing a canoe, or chipping from flint or obsidian an 
arrow-head, no agriculture apart from cultivating 
patches of corn, no constructive faculty other than 
setting up poles and covering them with hides of 
buffalo or sheets of bark, they live a listless and 
degraded life, roaming in small bands from place 
to place in search of food, and regulating their mi- 
grations by those of the animals on which they 
subsist. Often subject to the gnawings of long- 
continued famine, when the means of appeasing it 
are presented, they gorge themselves like beasts 
of prey, and then relapse into inaction, utterly 
improvident of the future. With such habits, and 



INDIAN CHARACTER. 413 

with means of subsistence so precarious, the Indian 
can not live in large communities and occupy fixed 
habitations. 

His contact with civilization has not elevated his 
condition. He has readily imbibed its vices, while 
he has shown no disposition to practice its virtues. 
Drafts have been made upon his moral and intel- 
lectual faculties, which, in mercantile phrase, he 
has invariably allowed to go to protest, with the 
indorsement, no assets. 

The Indian was never a formidable antagonist, 
until he became possessed of the weapons of the 
white man; and even then, he did not exhibit the 
steady valor and efficient discipline of the Ameri- 
can soldier; and to day, on the Plains, Sheridan's 
troopers would not hesitate to attack the bravest 
band, though outnumbered three to one. The 
Indian has never risen to the higher arts of 
strategy, such as handling large bodies of men, 
the carrying or maintaining of a position, or con- 
ducting those evolutions which appertain to a 
pitched battle. The ambush and surprise are his 
modes of warfare, — to strike and retreat before his 
foe can rally. The knife, the gun, and the horse, 
obtained from the white man, are the only gifts of 
civilization that he esteems, and the effect of con- 
ferring them upon him, has been simply to make 
him more powerful for evil. 



414 THE INDIANS. 

Commercial necessity requires the appropriation 
of these lands to other purposes than hunting- 
grounds. We may talk of their rights to the soil, 
acquired by immemorial use and enjoyment; but 
to make that right valid, there must be some act 
of conversion or appropriation, beyond the mere 
pitching of a lodge, the cultivating a patch of corn, 
or roaming over the surface in pursuit of game. 
Population presses too closely on the heels of pro- 
duction, to admit of the setting apart ten miles 
square for the support of a single life, vv^hich is 
required in the hunter-state, when, with proper 
cultivation, half an acre would yield a less preca- 
rious support. It would have been better, perhaps, 
at the outset, but certainly now, for the Government 
to assume the full relation of guardian and ward, 
and to treat the Indian as the States treat the feeble- 
minded and incompetent, — by providing asjdums 
where they shall be cared for, or rather place them 
on reservations, under close surveillance, where 
the experiment may be tried of instructing them 
in the arts of agriculture. If they die out under 
the experiment, we may console ourselves with the 
reflection, that their case is but an illustration of a 
law of nature, where the weaker and more sickl}'' 
organisms, whether animal or vegetable, are com- 
pelled to give way before the hardier and more 
viirorous. 



THE MOUND-BUILDERS. 415 

The Cherokees afford about the only example 
where a whole tribe has emerged from barbarism, 
and successfully adopted the arts of civilized life. 
One of their number clomb to the conception of 
an alphabet and reduced it to form. Situated in 
one of the most favored regions of the United 
States, where the extremes of temperature are not 
excessive, where the relief and depression of 
the surface is such as to o^ive origin to running: 
streams, and where the vegetable covering is about 
equally divided between prairie and forest, — the 
Cherokees have developed a capacity for farming 
of the highest order, and their surplus herds, in 
part, find their way, even, to the New York mar- 
ket. Their government is republican in form, and 
the will of the tribe finds full expression in their 
legislation. This example encourages the belief 
that the Indian can be redeemed from barbarism, 
and the policy of placing him on a reservation and 
subjecting him to a system of training in the arts 
of civilized life, is the only one which can rescue 
him from swift and certain annihilation. 

THE MOUND-BUILDERS* 

At frequent intervals throughout the region of 
the Great Lakes and the valley of the Mississippi, 

* Abstract of a paper, by the author, on the "Antiquity of Man in 
North America." Trans. Chicaaro Acad. Nat. Sci. V^ol. I. 



4l6 THE MOUND-BUILDERS. 

occasionally upon some crowning eminence, but 
for the most part in the rich alluvial valleys, there 
are found tumuli of earth — the highest of which 
reach from seventy to ninety feet, — long lines of 
embankments, often circular and often square, en- 
closing many acres, and pierced at intervals with 
entrances, and parallel roads connecting together 
the several parts, — the whole occupying leagues 
in extent, and bearing evidence of having been 
constructed according to well-devised plans. 

When the white man first penetrated the Ohio 
Valley, he found growing upon them, a forest 
which, in the size of the trees and in their charac- 
teristic forms, differed in no degree from those of 
the surrounding region. Upon the origin of those 
structures, by what people built, and the causes 
that led to their extinction, the Indian occupants 
of the country could throw no light; except, per- 
haps, the obscure tradition communicated to Hecke- 
welder, a Moravian missionary, that the Algonquins 
and Wyandots had expelled from the valley of the 
Ohio its former inhabitants, who had descended 
the Mississippi. 

It is to be regretted that the accomplished histo- 
rian* of the United States, basing his information 
on a hasty generalization of the late Professor 
Hitchcock, who, at the time, had never personally 

* Bancroft. " History of the United States." Vol. IH., Chap. 22. 



EXTENT OF THEIR WORKS. 417 

inspected these structures, should have indorsed 
and perpetuated, in a work to which every one refers 
as the standard of authority, the grave error, that 
the Mississippi Valley has no monuments; — and 
that where the antiquarian of a vivid imagination 
sees the vestiges of artificial walls, the geologist 
sees but crumbs of"deca3ang sandstone; that where 
the one sees parallel entrenchments, the other sees 
but a trough that subsiding waters have ploughed 
through the centre of a ridge; and that where the 
one sees a tessellated pavement, the other sees but 
a layer of pebbles aptly joined by the water. It is 
hardly necessary to select from an ample store- 
house, the facts to refute these assertions. Suffice 
it to say, that the geologist and the antiquary, side 
by side, and with pains-taking care, have explored 
very many of these structures, and both accord in 
the verdict, that these are the works of human 
hands. 

This region, then, has its monuments, whose 
origin goes back to a remote antiquity, — reared, 
too, by a people who had at least emerged from 
barbarism. These works are first met with in 
Western New York, and are continued through 
Northern Ohio to Wisconsin and Minnesota. 
While on the southern shore of Lake Superior no 
traces of earth- works have been observed, there are 
abundant evidences of ancient mining, extending 
27 



4l8 MOUND-BUILDERS. 

over the whole Copper-region, and there is a chain 
of proof which connects these exploitations with 
the Mound-Builders. 

The valleys of the Ohio and Mississippi, how- 
ever, afford a climate more equable, and a soil 
more genial for the cultivation of maize, which was 
undoubtedly the great staple of food and the basis 
of their civilization; and hence, in these regions, 
we find these earth-works vastly multiplied. In 
the vicinity of Grave Creek, below Wheeling; at 
Marietta, and up the valley of the Muskingum, and 
its tributary, the Licking; at Gallipolis; at Ports- 
mouth, Piketon, Chillicothe, and Circleville, in the 
rich valley of the Scioto ; at Cincinnati, and through 
the equally rich valley of the Miami; — the number 
and magnitude of these works indicate that here 
were the sites of populous settlements, whose in- 
habitants must have been maintained by other pur- 
suits than those of hunting and fishing. Earth- 
works occur at Vincennes, Indiana, and at other 
points in the Wabash Valley; in Kentucky, Ten- 
nessee, and Northern Mississippi, and vestiges 
have been observed in the Gulf States — Ala- 
bama, Georgia, and Florida, — as far east as South 
Carolina. 

The original site of St. Louis was dotted over 
with numerous mounds, and the Illinois shore 
opposite, in what is known as the American Bot- 



EXTENT OF THEIR WORKS. 419 

torn, contains some of the largest thus far ob- 
served. * The Rock-River region of Northern 
IlHnois, embracing SterHng, contains many of these 
earth-works, some of which, Hke those of Wiscon- 
sin and Minnesota, represent the form of animals. 

We are nof aware that the Missouri Valle}-, 
above the mouth of that river, contains any vesti- 
ges of the Mound-Builders. 

I do not propose to describe these works, as that 
task has been executed by Atwater, Squier and 
Davis, Whittlesey, Lapham, and others; but suffice 
it to say, that they appear to have been constructed 
to subserve a variety of purposes, — such as military 
defence, in which case they were undoubtedly 
crowned with palisades; for places of sepulture; 
for sacrificial altars; and, perhaps, the more con- 
spicuous were erected as monuments to commem- 
orate some signal event in their history. 

The Mound-Builders, in the selection of the sites 
for their habitations, appear to have been influenced 
by the same motives that governed the white man, 
for we find that many of the most flourishing towns 
and cities in the West, occupy these identical sites; 
for example. Marietta, Portsmouth, Circleville, 

* That of Cahokia is 90 feet high, and has a base of 666 feet; while 
the famous mound at Grave Creek, Virginia, is 70 feet, with a base of 
333 feet; and the next in rank is that at Miamisburgh, Ohio, which is 
6S feet, with a base of 284 feet. 



420 MOUND-BUILDERS. 

Piketon, Chillicothe, Cincinnati, Vincennes, Chat- 
tanooga, St. Louis, Sterling, Beloit, etc. 

When we consider the magnitude and extent of 
these works, — those, for instance, near Newark, 
Ohio, with its circles and squares, and its parallel 
roads and tumuli, extending over leagues of ground 
(and whose cubic contents exceed those of the 
great pyramid of Cheops) ; or the great mound of 
Cahokia, and the subordinate mounds in the Ameri- 
can Bottom, and on the site of St. Louis, — the 
whole series extending over a breadth of ten 
miles, — we draw the inference, that these struc- 
tures could never have been erected by a people 
who depended on the chase or the fisheries for the 
means of subsistence. Mere roving bands, like the 
Indians on the Plains, can not aggregate in com- 
munities, nor can they accumulate a stock of pro- 
visions so as to admit of the expenditure of vast 
labor upon unproductive works; and besides, the 
history of all nomadic tribes, whether in Scythia 
or North America, shows, that they are averse to 
that patient and long-continued labor which is im- 
plied in such structures. They are the memorials 
of the persevering industr}' of a people who occu- 
pied fixed habitations, and whose agriculture was 
so far successful, as to admit of the appropriation 
of a portion of their labor to other objects than pro- 
curing the necessaries of life. They imply, too, 



THEIR AGRICULTURE. 42 1 

a consolidated and, perhaps, a despotic govern- 
ment, under which a single mind directed that 
labor to the accomplishment of a well-devised 
plan. There is a unity of purpose, carried out in all 
of its details, which could only be successful under 
such a political organization. 

The civilization of Egypt resulted from the cheap 
food furnished by the date, which grows spontane- 
ously in the valley of the Nile; and to bring up a 
child to manhood, according to Diodorus Siculus, 
who wrote more than two thousand years ago, cost 
not more than twenty drachmas, or less that three 
dollars. Hence, then, under a despotic govern- 
ment, nearly the whole labor of the country could 
be employed in constructing such works as the 
Pj'ramids, and such cities as Thebes, Karnac, and 
Luxor. 

In South America, the cheap food furnished by 
the cultivation of corn or maize, enabled the Incas 
of Peru, to build up a great empire, and construct 
those works whose ruins, at this day, excite the 
admiration of ever}' beholder. 

Maize probably constituted the staple of the 
Mound-Builders' crop, and a single acre of ground 
well cultivated, would have supported from thirty 
to fifty people, with such animal food as they may 
have derived from the forests and the streams. 
Vestiges of their garden-plots may be seen in the 



422 THE MOUND-BUILDERS. 

valley of the St. Joseph's, Michigan, and carbon- 
ized corn has been revealed in the mounds at 
Grave Creek and Cincinnati. And yet they must 
have tilled their fields at a disadvantage, for there 
is no evidence of their having availed themselves 
of the patient labor of the ox or the horse, which, 
on the European Continent, have proved the faithful 
servants of man, — for neither of these quadrupeds 
existed on the American Continent at the time of its 
discovery by Europeans. There v^ere, it true, two 
representatives of the bovine tribe, — the musk-ox, 
which never wandered as far south as their habita- 
tions, and the buffalo, which has hitherto resisted all 
attempts at domestication. In the absence, then, 
of the horse and ox, which mainly constitute the 
herds of a pastoral people, the Mound-Builders 
must, in the progress of their history, have passed 
directly from a hunter-life to one of agriculture. 

Their stone-implements consisted of spear and 
arrow-heads chipped, with much skill, out of horn- 
stone or chert; of hammers, generally of porphyr}', 
grooved near the head for the attachment of a 
withe; of fleshing instruments of the same mate- 
rial brought down to a blunt edge; of pestles for 
cracking and grinding corn; of tabular plates of 
steatite or chlorite slate, pierced with holes to 
gauge the size of the thread in spinning; of circular 
discs, like weights, and concave on both surfaces, 



THEIR MINING. 423 

ordinarily of porphyry, and ground; ornaments 
like plumb-bobs, double-coned or egg-shaped, and 
pierced or grooved at one end for the attach- 
ment of a string, — the material being specular iron, 
like that derived from Lake Superior or the Iron 
Mountain, but soinetimes limestone; and lastl}', 
there are occasionally found elaborately-wrought 
pipes, which show that they indulged in the luxury 
of tobacco. 

In the fabrication of these implements they ex- 
hibited a skill far superior to that belonging to the 
Stone Age of Europe, rivaling those elaborately- 
wrought and polished stone-works which are desig- 
nated as " celts," and which are referred, by 
European ethnologists, to a more advanced state 
of civilization. 

They mined extensively native copper on the 
shores of Lake Superior, and wrought it into 
knives, spear-heads, chisels, bracelets, and other 
personal ornaments; but, having no tin, they could 
not, like the ancient dwellers on the Swiss lakes, or 
like the inhabitants of Nineveh, of the valley of the 
Nile, or of Peru, impart to the alloy almost the 
hardness of steel. It is doubtful, even, whether 
their metallurgic art extended to the smelting of 
copper; for it often happens that the native copper 
of Lake Superior encloses native silver, — both 
metals existing side by side chemically pure, — 



424 MOUND-BUILDERS. 

which, if smelted, in whatever proportions, would 
form a homogeneous compound. Bracelets have 
been found in the mounds, in which this peculiarity 
is preserved, thus showing that the material had 
not been smelted but simply hammered; and the 
ends are brought together by bending, without any 
evidence of having been soldered. 

Their mining operations were on a scale of mag- 
nitude, of which no one can form a just conception, 
except from personal observation. There are few 
productive copper-veins now wrought upon the 
shores of Lake Superior, which were not known 
and explored by the Mound-Builders. Continuous 
lines of ancient, but now nearly filled pits, are ob- 
served, not only on Keweenaw Point, in the On- 
tonagon region, but even on Isle Ro3'ale; and to 
reach the latter point involved a passage of forty- 
five miles, across a lake by no means placid in its 
disposition. Their method of mining was, proba- 
ably, to build fires on the rock and, when 
thoroughly heated, to dash on water, and thus 
fissure it in parts, when it was broken up with 
hammers of porphyry weighing from five and even 
up to forty pounds, which were derived from the 
rounded masses on the Lake-shore. Cart-loads of 
hammers were taken out of some of these excava- 
tions by the modern explorers. 

Heaps of rubbish line the course of the veins; 



THEIR TEXTILE FABRICS. 425 

and in the bottom of some of the pits, have been 
found the remains of ladders by which they 
ascended and descended, the bowls with which 
they bailed the water, and the copper-gads by 
which they forced the rocks apart. At the Minne- 
sota mine, the workmen in re-excavating one of 
these ancient pits, at the depth of eighteen feet, 
came upon a mass of copper ten feet long, three 
feet wide, and nearly two feet thick, and weighing 
not far from two tons, which the ancient miners, after 
having raised about five feet, and propped with 
billets of wood, had abandoned, having first, how- 
ever, removed all of the projecting points which 
were accessible. 

They clothed themselves, in part at least, not in 
skins like the Indian; not like the Sandwich 
Islander in the macerated bark of certain trees; 
not like the dwellers on the Swiss lakes, in matted 
sheets of vegetable fibre; but in cloth of a texture 
approaching hemp, spun with a uniform thread, 
and woven with a warp and woof. The texture, 
while coarse, is uniform, and the border is often 
ornamented with tassels. It is not such a fabric 
as a European manufacturer would make to traffic 
with a barbarous nation, for cotton would be 
cheaper, and wool would afiford more warmth; 
and, besides, this cloth was found under such cir- 



426 THE MOUND-BUILDERS. 

cumstances as to preclude the idea of its being a 
modern substitution. 

In the plastic arts, they attained to considerable 
proficiency. While the Indian, before his contact 
with the white man, was in the habit of bending 
up birch-bark so as to hold water, and then casting 
in hot stones, and thus bringing it to a boiling point; 
the Mound-Builder moulded his pots in clay, 
tempered with sand or shells, and baked them so 
far as to make useful utensils in most of the pro- 
cesses of cooking. Not content with the useful, 
he aspired to the ornamental. From a mound in 
Missouri, I have seen a water-cooler in the form 
of a compressed globe, the neck surmounted with 
the similitude of a human head. The features are 
symmetrically moulded, and the facial angle indi- 
cates intelligence. The features are not those of 
the red man, but such as distinguish the enlight- 
ened races. There is a statuette taken from the 
same mound, representing a captive bound ; and 
while portions of the figure are well moulded, 
taken as a whole, it is grossly incongruous. 

They must have maintained a commercial in- 
tercourse with the most distant parts of North 
America, for the same mounds have often afforded 
plates of mica from a region as remote as New 
England; copper from the shores of Lake Supe- 
rior; marine shells i^Busycon peiverstttri) from 



EXTENT OF THEIR WORKS. 427 

the Gulf or Atlantic Coast; and steatitic and por- 
phyritic implements, the materials of which must 
have been derived from a region equally remote. 

The crania which have been exhumed from the 
mounds, as determined by Morton,"^ differ in many 
respects from those of the North American Indi- 
an; — in the wider expansion of the forehead, the 
larger facial angle, the less obliquity of the orbit 
of the eye, the narrower nose, the less prominent 
projection of the jaws, the smaller dimensions 
of the palatine fossa, and the flattened occiput. 
Many of these peculiarities are displayed in the 
head from the Missouri mound, before spoken of, 
moulded b}' the unknown artist who had the skill 
to impress upon the plastic clay, the features of his 
race. 

Although the Mound-Builders, from the absence 
of tin, made no use of bronze implements, yet, 
when we regard the vast number and magnitude 
of their structures, their perfection in weaving, in 
pottery, in the fabrication of stone-implements, the 
extent to which they employed copper in the place 
of bronze, and the communication which they 
maintained between widely-separated portions of 
the countr}-, we can not but ascribe to them a 
place in the scale of civilization, as high as the 

* "Crani;i Americans." p. 20S. 



428 CONCLUSION. 

people of the Bronze Age on the Eastern Hem- 
isphere. Their exclusion from the beautiful valley 
of the Mississippi, which contains so many memo- 
rials of their industry and greatness, is not the only 
example which history affords of the extermination 
of a people considerably advanced in civilization, 
by a people more vigorous, and less inclined to the 
arts of peace. 

We have no chronometer by which to measure 
the lapse of time since these excavations were made, 
and these structures were reared, except the char- 
acter of the arborescent vegetation with which they 
are now covered. This is in every respect like 
that of the adjacent forest. When, therefore, we 
see growing upon these mounds, trees four centu- 
ries old, and the prostrate and moldering trunks 
of others, which once flourished on the same sites, 
we are justified in assuming that these works are 
at least a thousand years old; but in attempting to 
determine their absolute age we are lost in the 
mazes of conjecture. 

CONCLUSION. 

We here bring to a conclusion our sketch of the 
physical geography of the Great Valley. We 
have endeavored to portray its configuration, — the 
mountain chains by which it is bounded, the dil- 



CONCLUSION. 429 

ferent epochs of their elevation, the heights to 
which they attain, the diversity of cHmate to 
which they give origin, and the influence which 
they exert on the distribution of moisture. The 
boundaries of forests, prairies, and arid wastes have 
been traced, and the causes to which they owe 
their origin, have been investigated. The condi- 
tions of soil and climate essential to the growth 
and perfection of those plants adapted to human 
food and human raiment, have been pointed out, 
and, at the same time, the materials which make up 
the great frame-work of the region, — the rocks 
from whose abrasion the soil has been derived, 
and whose recesses are the repositories of the use- 
ful metals, and the store-houses of fossil fuel, — 
all have passed under review. And, finally, we 
have recounted how this Great Valley, within the 
memory of living men, has been reclaimed from 
the wilderness, and been made the abode of twelve 
millions of human beings, who have developed an 
internal industry, and attained to a degree of pros- 
perity, of which the annals of the past afford no 
parallel; and, indulging in visions of coming great- 
ness, we have predicted the time, and at no remote 
date, when this people would impress their laws 
and civilization upon the Continent, and make 
their influence felt in the conduct of the world's 
affairs. 



430 CONCLUSION. 

We close with the consciousness that our task 
has been but imperfectly executed. While we 
have endeavored to avoid those specialities which 
are required to satisfy the demands of pure science, 
w^e have endeavored to introduce those general- 
izations which may be comprehended and appre- 
ciated by the intelligent reader. 

No one can rise from the study of the physical 
geography of our country, without its awakening in 
his mind a nobler sphere of thought, and creating 
a profounder impression, as to the ultimate destiny 
of the human race in those arts which dignify life 
and mitigate its sufferings. 

If Burke, during the last century, in surveying 
the magnitude of the French empire, — the public 
works, the charitable foundations, and other institu- 
tions, — confessed that, in all this, he beheld "some- 
thing which awed and commanded the imagina- 
tion;" how much more profoundly would he have 
been impressed, if he could have witnessed the 
growth and present position of the feeble colonists 
whose conduct he so ably defended. He would 
have seen those colonists, numbering at the time 
they asserted their independence, less than three 
millions, expanded to forty millions; occupying a 
country stretching from ocean to ocean, and so far 
diversified by soil and climate, as to produce most 
of those plants which enter into human food and 



CONCLUSION. 431 

raiment; intersected by great navigable rivers, 
spanned by bridges of iron, and dotted with popu- 
lous cities upon their banks; with an area greater 
than that of France, subdued and brought under 
cultivation, and yet with a capacity for expansion 
almost unlimited; with artificial communications, 
undreamed of in his day, between every principal 
commercial point; and with one iron-road, stretch- 
ing like a girdle across the " solid continent." He 
would have seen this people living under a form of 
government the best ever devised for the security 
of personal freedom and the display of human 
energy, and with an inherent strength to with- 
stand shocks, as evinced in the late Rebellion, under 
which any other government would have crumbled. 
He would have seen, in each State, ample provi- 
sion for the education of every child; and hospitals 
and asylums, erected by public or private contri- 
butions, for the alleviation of all the ills incident 
to human it}^ 

With such elements of national power and 
future greatness, let us hope that the virtue and 
intelligence of the people will advance with equal 
pace. 



INDEX. 



ABB 

A. 
Abbot, cited, see Humphreys and 

ABBOT. 

Adirondack Mountains, age of, 

266. 
Africa, desert of, 131. 

sources of the Nile, 132. 

rain-fall of Sierra Leone, 134. 

region of the Mediterranean, 

135- 

atmospheric currents of, ib. 
Agassiz, Louis, cited, on Prime- 
val Continent, 255. 
Age of rocks, see systems of up- 
heaval. 
Age of metals, 269. 
Alaska, climate of. 199. 
Alleghany, or Appalachian Moun- 
tains, 27. 

height of, ib. 

age of. 255. 

range and structure of, 28. 

coal-field of, 297. 
Alluvium of tiie Alississippi, 16. 
Alps, different lines of upheaval 

recognized in, 32. 
Altai Mountains, 129. 
Alternate wood and prairie, region 

of, 81. 
Amazon, basin of, 113. 

vegetation of, 114. 
America, see north AiMerica. 
Amygdaloid of Lake Superior, 275. 
Andes, range of, in. 

effects in modifying climate, 
112. 

highest peaks of, ib. 
Anthracite of Pennsylvania, 301. 

of New Mexico, 313. 
Antisell, T., cited, 36. 

on the rains of California, 168. 
Appalachian system, 225. 
Arabia, desert of, 130. 
Arctic climate, 333. 

28 



B E A 

Arctic life, 358. 

Argentiferous veins of New Mexi- 
co, 294. 

of Nevada, 330. 
Artemisia, characteristic of a dry 

climate, 86. 
Asia, central plateau of, 129. 

mountains of, 130. 

rainless and profusely-watered 
belts of, ib. 
Atacama. desert of, 119. 
Atlas Mountains, 135. 
Atmosphere, currents of, 173; 186. 

height of, 183. 
Auriferous slates of California, 308. 
Auriferous veins. Azoic, 26S. 
Auroras, 201. 
Austin, J. B., cited, 362. 
Australia, its flora and fauna, 135. 

its deserts, mountains, and 
winds, 136. 
Axis of elevation, 250. 

of the Alleghanies, 255. 

of Lake Superior, 254. 

of Rocky Mountains, 257. 

of the Sierra Nevada, 258. 

of the Coast Range. 260. 
Azoic system, defined, 264. 

its range, 265. 

B. 

Bancroft, George, cited, on the 
ancient monuments of the Mis- 
sissippi Valley, 416. 
"Barren Grounds" described, 78. 
Basalt, of Table Mountain, 261. 
of Lower California, 262. 
of New Mexico, 262. 
of Oregon, 36. 
Basins, river, of the Mississippi, 

3; 43- 

of the Missouri, 39. 
of the Ohio, 42. 
Beaumont, Elie de, cited, 251. 



434 



INDEX. 



B E C 

Becquerel, on forest-barriers, i6o. 
Bigelow, J. M., cited. 88; 89. 
Big trees of California, 94. 
Bituminous coal, of Carboniferous 
age. 301. 

of Cretaceous age. 312. 
of Tertiary age, 326. 
Blake, W. P.. cited, 46. 
Blodget, Lorin, Climatology of 
United States, 96. 

his tables of temperature, 207. 
of rain fall. 96; 208. 
on the winds of the Gulf, 104. 
Blue (Cincinnati) limestone, range 

of, 283. 
Borlander, H. N., cited, 154. 
Botanical Geography, region of 
mosses, 78- 

of conifers, 80. 

of deciduous trees, 81. 

of the grasses. 84; 89. 

of the cacti and artemisite. 87. 

arborcbcent forms of Pacitic 

Slope, 92 
of Mississippi Valley, 5. 
Boulders, see drift. 
Brande's Dicuonai"y, cited, 219. 
Brazil, forests of, 113. 

atmospheric currents of, 121. 
British America, lignites of, 326. 
climate of, 366. 
of the Saskatchawan region, 
62. 
Bross, Gov. Wm., cited, 233. 
Brown, J. Ross, cited. 91 ; 308. 
Buckle, H. T., cited, 365. 
Buckland, Wm., cited, 300. 
Burlington limestone, range of, 

289. 
Buenos Ayres, pampas of, 117. 

C. 

Cactus, distribution of, 87. 
Calciferous sandstone, range of, 

280. 
California, Carboniferous rocks of, 

259- 

basaltic rocks of, 261. 
Cretaceous of, 313. 
gold-bearing rocks of, 308. 
copper-bearing rocks of, 308. 
coa! deposits of, 313. 
quicksilver deposits of, 314. 



C L I 

Triassic rocks of, 258; 307. 
Tertiary rocks of, 328. 
erosive action in, 338. 
its mountain chains. Sierra 

Nevada, 34. 
Coast Ranges, 36; 260. 
height of principal summits, 

35 ; 37- 

vegetable productions of, 92. 

Yosemite Valley in, 95. 

wheat-culture of, 16S. 

climate of. loi. 

periodic rains of. 106; 168. 
Canada, climate of, 366. 
Canons of the Colorado plateau, 

339- 

Caraccas, llanos of, 114. 
Carbonic acid gas in air, 142. 

how generated, 145. 
Carboniferous series, range of, 287. 
Caribbean Sea, winds of the, 103. 
Carolina, pine barrens of, 319. 
Cascade Range of Pacific, 36. 
Caspian Sea, region of the, 125. 
Catholicism, universality of, 3S6. 
Caucasian type, characteristics of, 

375- 
Caucasus, region of the, 128. 
Celts, their origin, 3S1. 

their characteristics, 385. 

their colonization, 3S6. 
Cerealia, range and cultivation of, 

see CLIMATIC RANGE. 

Chaco Gran, described, ii6. 
Chester group, range of, 288. 
Christianity, effects of the spread 

of, 399. 
Cinnabar of California, 314. 
Civilization, origin of, 377. 

Grecian, 378. 

Roman, 381. 

Teutonic, ib. 

Celtic, ib. 

contrasted with that of the 
ancients. 69. 
Classification of rock-formations, 

246. 
Climate, definition of, 172. 

atmospheric currents, 173. 

oceanic currents. Gulf Stream, 
188. 

rains and winds, 178. 

isothermal lines, 186. 

of the United States, 192. 

of the Pacific Coast and Great 



INDEX. 



435 



C L I 

Basin, iSo; 197. 
of the Plains, 204. 
table of" temperatures in Uni- 
ted States. 207. 
table of rain-fail in United 

States, 208. 
its influence on man, 355, 
in the Arctic regions, 358. 
in the temperate regions, 362. 
in the torrid regions, 360. 
phenomena of the seasons in 
North America, 200. 
Climatic range of cultivated plants, 
209. 

of maize, 213. 

of wheat, 215. 

of oats, rve, and barley, 2i8. 

of rice, 222. 

of sugar-cane and sorghum, 

224. 
of the potato, 226. 
of cotton, 227. 
of tobacco, 230. 
of the grasses, 231. 
tables of annual production, 
240. 
Climatology, of the United States, 
182. 
of the Mississippi Valley, iSo. 
of the Gulf Coast, 195. 
of the Pacitic Coast, 19S. 
of the Saskatchavvan Valley, 

194. 
of the United States compared 
with Europe, 187; 190. 
Cloud-bursts, phenomena of, 182. 
Coal, its uses. 295. 

mode of formation, 299. 
of the Carboniferous age, 296. 
of the Cretaceous age, 312. 
of the Tertiary age, 326 ; 330. 
anthracite of Pennsylvania, 

362. 
of New Mexico, 313. 
analyses of. 317. 
Coast Ranges of the Pacific, 36; 

260. 
Colonization of United States, 3S7. 

of \Vestern States, 403. 
Colorado, desert of, 46. 

canons of. 339. 
Comstock lode described, 330. 
Columbia, basin of, 46. 
Columbus, diversion in his course, 

eflects of, 387. 
Coniferous limestone, range of, So. 



D E s 

Constant precipitation, zone of, 

177- 
Continents, formation of, 245. 
Continent, Primeval of North 

America, 254. 
Cooper, J. G., cited, 82. 
Copper, annual product of, 280. 
Copper-region of Lake Superior, 
279. 

ot California, 308. 
Cordilleras of South America, H2 ; 

117.' 
Corn, a generic term, 219. 
Corn, Indian, range of, 213. 
Cotton, range of, 227. 
Cretaceous system, range of, 310. 

groups of Missouri Basin, 311. 

of the Atlantic Slope, 310. 

of the Mississippi Valley, 14; 
310. 

of the Pacific Coast, 310; 313. 

of the Colorado Plateau, ib. 

flora of. 316. 

coals of, 313. 
Crofts, Capt., cited, 233. 
Crystalline rocks, range of, 249. 
Cultivated plants, see climatic 

RANGE. 

Currents, air and oceanic, see cli- 
mate. 

Cuvier, cited, 325. 

Cypress-swamps of the Missis- 
sippi, 6. 

D. 

Dakota group, 311. 
Dall, W. H., on the northern ex- 
tension of the Rocky Moun- 
tains, 62. 
Dana, J. D., cited, on the structure 
of continents, 253. 

on the origin of the prairies, 

109. 
on the Australian Alps, 136. 
Davidson, on the range of fossils, 

247- 
Delta of the Mississippi, 16. 
Denudation, in the region of the 
Great Lakes, 350. 
in California, 338. 
in the Colorado Plateau, 340. 
Densely-wooded belt, in United 

States, 78. 
Deserts, origin of, 71. 
of Arabia, 130. 



43^ 



INDEX. 



D E S 

of Atacama, 119. 

of Australia, 136. 

of Colorado, 46. 

of Gobi 129. 

of Patagonia, 118. 

of Sahara, 131, 

of Salinas, ii6. 

of the Great Basin, 37 ; 90. 
Development, physical, in Western 

States, 375. 
Devonian system, range of, 285. 

economic materials in, 285. 
Drift series, 332. 

in Mississippi Valley, 335. 

absence, of on the Plains, 337. 

in California, 338. 

in Lower California, 262. 
Dunes of Lake Michigan, 345. 



E. 



Earth, effects of the obliquity of 

its axis, 177. 
Earth's crust, effects of the con- 
traction of, 177. 
Earthquakes at New Madrid, 18. 
Egypt, effects of the Nile's inun- 
dation on, 133. 

ancient irrigation practiced in, 
166. 
Elevation, systems of, 250. 
of Lake Superior, 254. 
of the Appalachian, 255. 
of the Rocky Mountains, 257. 
of the Sierra Nevada, 258. 
of the Coast Ranges, 260. 
England, climate of, 124. 
English character, 397. 
Eocine-Tertiary, range of, 319. 
on the Atlantic and Gulf 

Coasts, 319. 
in the Missouri Basin, 322. 
Erosion, see denudation. 
Erratic blocks, see drift. 
Eruptions, see volcanic action. 
Esquiiuaux, habits of, 358. 
Europe, climate of, as influenced 
by the Gulf Stream, 123. 

compared with that of North 

America, 187. 
races of men in, 382. 
Evaporation, amount of, in Uni- 
ted States, 190. 



G R A 
F. 

Flint, Timothy, cited, on the for- 
ests of the Mississippi Valley, 8. 
on the earthquakes of New 
Madrid, 22. 
Fluor spar veins of Southern Illi- 
nois, 293. 
Forests, distribution of, in North 
America, 78. 

in South America, 113. 
in Europe, 124. 
their range dependent on mois- 
ture, 8i. 
their effects on health, 141. 

on aniinal life, 149. 
rapid destruction of, in Uni- 
ted States, 155. 
they modify climate, 160. 
their lessons, 159. 
they retain moisture, 148; 161. 
tree-planting, effects of, 146 ; 

effects of disrobing a country 

of, 152. 
they absorb noxious gases, 145. 
Fresh-water Tertiaries of Missouri 

Basin, 322. 
Fractures of earth's crust, see ele- 
vation. 
Fremont, J. C, cited, 87; 233. 
Gabb, W. M., cited, on the Post- 
Pliocine of California, 262. 
on Cretaceous of California, 

315- 
on the gravels of Lower Cali- 
fornia, 339. 
Galena, occurrence of, in the 
Northwestern States, 2S3. 
in Southern Illinois, 293. 
in Missouri, 280; 294. 
Galena limestone, range of, 282. 
Geological Sketch (Map) of the 

United States, 272. 
Geology, objects of, 245. 

subdivisions of strata, 246. 
Gibbon, cited, 130; 283. 
Glaciers of Greenland, 333. 
Glacial action in Mississippi Val- 
ley, 335- 
Gobi, desert of, 129. 
Gold product in the United States, 

308. 
Golden Age, 270. 
Grama-grass, described, 89; 233. 
Granite, origin of, 253. 



INDEX. 



437 



G R A 

Grasses for pasturage, 231. 
Gravel-washes, 39; 1S3. 
Great Basin, character of, 39; 90. 
Great Lakes, 349. 

their influence in modifying 
climate, 203. 

how formed, 350. 

altitude above ocean, 352. 

area of, ib. 
Great lignite group, 326. 
Greece, early intellectual develop- 
ment in, 379. 
Guinea, climate of, 134. 
Gulf-coast, climate of, 19:^. 
Gulf-stream, action of, 124; 188. 

effects of diversion, 190. 
Gujot, A., cited, 27. 



H. 



Hall, James, cited, 2S5; 286. 
Hajden, F. V., cited, 278; 305; 

326; 337; 344. 
Heat, internal, of earth, 252. 
Heights of mountain peaks : 

in the Andes, 112. 

in the Cascade Range, 36. 

in the Coast Range, 37. 

in the Rocky Mountains, 31. 

in the Sierra Nevada, 35. 

in the Alleghanies, 27. 

of the Alps, 36. 

of the Caucasus, 128. 
Heights of water-sheds, 3. 

of the Mississippi, ib. 

of the Missouri, ib. 

of the Ohio, 26. 

of the Great Plateau, 33. 

of the Great Basin, 37 ; 45. 

of Lake-terraces, 343. 
Henry, Joseph, on atmospheric 

currents, 173. 
Herodotus, cited, 125. 

on the ancient corn-trade, 218. 
Herschel, Sir John, on solar influ- 
ence, 198. 

on tree-planting, 154, 
Hewit, A. S., cited, 271. 
Hilgard. cited, 320. 
Himalaya Mountains, 129. 
Hood, Mount, height of, 36. 
Humphreys and Abbot, cited, 40; 
169. 

on the physics of the Missis- 
sippi Rfver, 3; 5; 16; 17. 



JOH 

on the winds of the Gulf- 
Coast, 105. 
Humboldt, Alexander Von, cited, 

on the structure of the Rocky 
Mountains, 33. 

on the llanos of Caraccas, 114. 

on solar influence, 139. 

on Central Plateau of Asia, 
129. 

on nocturnal life of animals, 
151- 

his system of isothermal lines, 
187. 

I. 

Icebergs, drifting of, 334. 
Ice-action, see drift. 
Igneous action, 249. 

in Azoic epoch, 264. 

in Silurian epoch, 275. 

in Triassic epoch, 308. 

in Cretaceous epoch, 313. 

in Tertiary epoch, 330. 

in Qiiatenary epoch, 339. 
Illinois, galena deposits in, 283; 
293- 

coal-field, 297. 
Indiana coal-field, 302. 
India, rains of, 130. 
Indians, North American, 411. 

their character, 412. 

policy pursued towards, 413. 
Indian summer, described, 205. 
Indo-European race. 382. 
Insect-life in northern latitudes, 

203. 
Ireland, climate of, 124. 

language of, 398. 
Iowa, coal of, 302. 
Iron, its uses, 270. 
Iron Region of Lake Superior, 266. 

of Missouri, 267. 

characteristic of the Azoic, 265. 

annual product of. 261. 
Irrigation, practiced by the Orien- 
tals, 165. 

by the Peruvians, 166. 

feasibility of, on the Plains, 
169. 
Isothermal lines of United States, 

see METEOROLOGY. 

J- 
Johnson, Edwin F., cited, 61. 
Johnson, Dr. Samuel, cited, 393. 



438 



INDEX. 



JUR 

Jurassic and Triassic systems, 305. 
range of, on Atlantic Slope, 

306. 
in Rocky Mountains, 307. 
in California, ib. 



K. 



Kane, E. K., on Arctic night, 148. 

on glaciers and drift, 334. 

on Esquimaux rations, 359. 
Kansas, physical features of, 75. 

coal-field of, 298. 

Permian system in, 305. 
Keokuk limestone, range of, 288. 
Keweenaw Point, trap range of, 

279. 
Kinderhook group, 290. 



Labrador, currents of, 189. 
Lakes. Great American, 349. 

effects in modifying climate, 
203. 

fresh-water of Tertiary age, 

325- 
Great Salt Lake, 90. 
Slave, Bear, and Athabasca, 
263. 
Lake Superior sj'stem, 254. 
Lake Michigan, dunes of, 345. 
Language, a bond of national 

unity, 398. 
Lapham, L A., cited, 204. 
Lead ores, vide galena. 
Le Conte, J. L., cited, 56; 312. 
Leidy, J., cited, on inammals of 
the Loess, 15. 

of the Missouri Basin, 323. 
Lesquereux, Leo, on the origin of 

prairies, 73. 
Lignites, of Mississippi Valley, 320. 
of the Missouri Basin, 326. 
of the Columbia Valley, 328. 
of the Great Basin, 327. 
Llano Estacado described, 44. 
Llanos of Caraccas, 114. 
Loess of Mississippi and Missouri 

Valleys, 15 ; 342. 
Loup-river beds, 323. 
Lyell, Sir Charles, division of Ter- 
tiary, 320. 

on the Loess of Natchez, 15. 



MIS 

M. 

Magnesian limstone, range of, 280. 
Maize, botanical range of, 213. 
Malaria, origin of, 147. 

arrested or modified by tree- 
planting, 147. 
generated by the first breaking 
of the soil, 148. 
Mammalian remains in Missouri 
Basin, 323. 

in Loess at Natchez, 15. 
Marine formations of Tertiary Age, 

228. 
Man, effects of climate on, 355. 
geographical range of, 356. 
effects of external circumstan- 
ces on, 357, 
Arctic life of, 358. 
life of. in Temperate Zone, 362. 
in North America, 366. 
Map of geology of United States, 
272. _ 

of isothermal lines, 208. 
of distribution of forests, prai- 
ries, and deserts, 140. 
Marsh, George P., cited, man and 

nature, 152. 
Marsh, O. C., cited, 323. 
Maircaises Terres, described, 325. 
Mediterranean, basin of, 135. 
Meek, F. B., cited, 326. 
Meek and Hayden, cited, 265 ; 298 ; 

305; 310; 321. 
Metamorphic rocks, 254. 
Meteorology, system of air-cur- 
rents, 173. 

of isothermal lines, 187; 208. 
of winds and rains, 120. 
Mexican Gulf, winds of, 103. 
Mexico, formations of. 259. 
Michigan, coal-field of, 298. 
Michigan, Lake, sand-dunes of, 

345- 
Miocine, see tertiary. 
Mississippi River, regimen of, 3. 

approaches to, 12. 

magnitude of, 2. 

origin of name, ib. 

area of valley, 3. 

length, height of sources, vol- 
ume, etc., t'b. 

sources of, 43. 

internal navigation of, 4. 

character of Lower Valley, 5. 

typical vegetation of, ib. 



INDEX. 



439 



MIS 

bluffs, levees, overflows, of, lo. 

phenomena of waters, 13. 

outlets of, 11. 

geology of bed, 14. 

geological structure of, 242. 

alluvium of, 16. 

depth and slope of, 17. 

earthquake-action in, ib. 

drift-action in, 335. 
Missouri, iron-region of, 267. 

Azoic series in, 265. 

occurrence of tin in, 268. 

lead-region of, 280; 294. 

coal-field of, 297. 
Missouri River, description of, 39. 

water-shed of, 26. 
Missouri, basin of the, 39. 

Triassic series in, 3oi5. 

Cretaceous series in, 311. 

Tertiary series in, 322. 
Moisture, sources of, in United 

States, 92. 
Morton, S. G., cited, 427. 
Mosses and saxifrages, region of, 

78. 
Motley, J. L., cited, 382. 
Mound-Builders, 415. 

extent of their works, 418. 

their agriculture, 421. 

their implements, 422. 

their mining, 424. 

their commerce, 426. 

their crania, 427. 

antiquity of their works, 428. 
Mountain ranges, Altai, 129. 

Andes. 112. 

Appalachian, 27. 

Atlas, 135. 

Cascade Range, 36. 

Coast Ranges, ib. 

Caucasus, 128. 

Himalaya, 129. 

Kuen-lun, ib. 

Parime, La, 114. 

Rocky Mountains, 30. 

Sierra Nevada, 34. 
Mountain Heights : 

Mount Baker, 36. 

Blanc, ib. 

Brewer, 35. 

Clingman's, 27. 

Diablo, 37. 

Elbroiiz, 128. 

Gray, 31. 

Fremont, ib. 

Hamilton, 37. 



O C E 

Hood, 36. 
Illampu, 112. 
Lassan's Peak, 35. 
Olympus, 36. 
Long's 31. 
Pike's, 31. 
Ranier, 36. 
San Francisco, 31. 
Shasta, 35. 
Silliman, ib. 
Spanish Peak, 31. 
Taylor, //;. 
Tyndal. 35. 
Washington, 27. 
Whitney, 35. 
Mullan, Capt., cited, 40. 

on the warm air-currents of 
the Upper Missouri, 192. 

N. 

National unity, causes which pro- 
duce, 390. 
Negro, characteristics of, 369. 
Newberry, Dr. J. S., cited, 170. 

on the Canons of the Colora- 
do, 340. 

on the alluvial of the Rocky 
Mountain Slope, S9. 

on the origin of prairies, 109. 

on the Cretaceous tlora, 316. 
New Madrid, earthquakes at, 18. 

erosive action of river at, 9. 
New Orleans, approaches to, 12. 
New York, sources of her great- 
ness, 48. 
Niagara limestone, range of, 2S4. 
Nile, valley of, 132. 

ancient canals of, 166. 
Niobrara group, 311. 
North America, physical features 
of, I. 

mountain ranges of, 27. 

climate of, 1S2. 

vegetation of, 81. 

river-systems of, 263. 

colonization of, 387. 

progress of development in, 

307- 
geology of, 242. 

O. 

Oak-openings described, 83. 
Ocean, the great source of mois- 
ture, 178. 



440 



INDEX. 



O H I 

Ohio, basin of, 42. 

coal-field of, 302. 
Ohio River, 3. 
Oil springs, origin of, 286. 
Onondaga salt-group, 2S5. 
Ordinance of 17S7, 401.- 
Oiegon, climate of, 199. 

coals of, 32S. 
Organic remains, range of, 243 ; 
247. 

absence of in Azoic, 264. 

first appearance in Silurian, 

273- 
in the Loess of the Missis- 
sippi, 15. 
flora of the Carboniferous, 299. 
of the Cretaceous, 316. 
of the Tertiary, 322. 
Oronoco, basin of, 113. 
Oscillations of the earth's surface, 
251. 



Pacific Coast, climate of, 197. 

elevation of, 252; 257. 
Pacific Ocean, source of moisture, 

lOI. 

periodic winds of, 106. 
Pacific railroads, 51. 
Pampas of La Plata, 116. 
Pahranagat, described, 38. 
Parry, C. C, cited, 60; 107; 313. 
Passes, mountain : 

Cadotte, Snoqualmie, 61. 

South Pass, 26. 

St. Bernard, 51. 

Evans's. 61. 
Passes of the Mississippi. 12. 
Patagonia, climate of, n8. 
Peat, origin of, 74. 
Pembina, region of, 217. 
Pennsylvania, coal-field of, 297. 
Permian system, range of, 304. 
Peru, mountains of, 112. 

rainless district of, 118. 

ancient works of, 116. 
Petroleum springs, origin of. 285. 
Pictured Rocks, Lake Superior, 

276. 
Pierre, Fort, group. 311. 
Pineries, Western, their rapid de- 
struction, 155. 
Pine-Barrens of the South, 319. 
Pines, botanical region of, So; 92; 
379- 



PRO 

character of soil essential to 
their growth, 80. 
Plants, how they grow, 141. 

chemical constituents of, 142. 
cultivation of those useful to 

inan, 209. 
soil in reference to their 

growth, 210. 
maize, range of, 213. 
wheat, oats, rye, barley, range 

of, 215. _ 
their origin, 218. 
rice, sugar, sorghum, 222. 
potato, range of, 226. 
cotton, range of, 226 
tables of production, 240. 
extension of plant-culture by 

irrigation, 84. 
plants peculiar to the prairies, 

86. 
moisture as connected with 

their distribution, 84. 
cactus. Si. 
artemisia, 86. 
bunch-grass, 89. 
Plata, La, pampas of, 116. 
Pliny, cited, i. 
Pliocine, see tertiary. 
Pope. Gen., quoted, 43. 
Post-Pliocine, see drift. 
Potsdam sandstone. 275. 
Potato, range of, 226. 
Prairies, origin of, 71- 

their distribution, ib. 
not due to peat-growth, 73- 
not due to texture of soil, 76. 
not due to annual burnings, ib. 
due to conditions of moisture, 

109. 
vegetation of, 84. 
characteristic plants of, 86. 
facilities for cultivation. 235. 
Prairies in North America, 71. 
in Caraccas (llanos), 114. 
in La Plata (pampas), 116. 
in the Black -Sea region 

(steppes), 125. 
in Central Asia, 129. 
how far modified by tree-plant- 
ing. 161. 

by irrigation, 169; 181. 
Primeval Continent, 254. 
Progress of development in West- 
ern States, 401. 

eftects of Ordinance of 1787, ib. 
first settlement of, 405. 



INDEX. 



441 



PRO 

population in. 240; 408. 
agriculture of. 241 ; 40S. 
Protestantism, where prevalent, 
386. 

Quicksilver of California, 314. 



R. 

Railroads : 

Union Pacific, 51. 
Central Pacific, 54. 
Union Pacific. E. D., 57. 
Northern Pacific, 61. 
their effects on the progress of 
development, 65. 
Rain-phenomena in the United 

States, iSi. 
Rains, whence derived, 178. 
mode of formation, 179. 
as connected with the distri- 
bution of plants, 77. 
tables of the mean annual pre- 
cipitation at various stations 
in the United States, 97 ; 208. 
sources of moisture, 103. 
periodical rains of California, 
loi. 
Raised beaches, 349. 
Rawlinson, on the ancient corn- 
trade of the Black Sea, 220. 
Redfield, W. C, cited, 104. 
Rebellion, the Great, causes of, 

373- 
Religion, civilizing effects of, 388. 
Remond, A., cited, on the geology 

of Mexico, 259; 309. 
Rice-culture, 222. 
Richardson, Sir John, cited, 78; 

151 ; 203; 326. 
Richthofen, Baron, cited, on the 

Washoe Mountains, 38. 
on Comstock lode, 330. 
River-systems of United States, 

263. 
Rocks, their physiognomy, 210. 
Rock}' Mountains, their range and 

extent. 30. 

their elevation, 257. 
Rocky Mountain Valleys, 45. 
Rogers, \V. B. and H. D., cited, 

on the structure of the Appala- 
chians. 27. 
Roman Empire, extent of, 381. 



Russel, Robert, cited, 104. 
Russia, forests of, 124. 
steppes of, 125, 



S. 



Sahara, desert of, 131. 
Salt, of Michigan, 2S6. 

of Nevada, 91. 

efflorescences of the Plains, 86. 

of the Great Basin, 91. 

of the Black Sea region, 128. 

of South America, 116; 119. 

of Central Asia, 129. 
Salt Lake described, 90. 
Salt Lake, desert of, 45. 
Saskatchawan, basin of the, 62 ; 

194. 
Schacht, on the effects of forests 

in attracting moisture, 162. 
Scotland, Highland races of, 398. 
Scratches, or striation, of rocks, 

.337; 350. 
Sand-dunes, 345. 
Seasons, phenomena of, 200. 
Section, of the Ohio Valley, 292. 
of the Mississippi Valley, 15. 
Sedimentary rocks, described, 272. 
their distribution, 246. 
See, also, silurian, devon- 
ian, CARBONIFEROUS, etC. 

Shasta, height of, 35. 
Shumard, B. F., cited, 305. 
Sierra Nevada, height of, 35. 

vegetation of, 92. 
Sierra Leone, climate of. 134. 
Silurian system, explained, 273. 
first traces of organic life, 274. 
distribution of the strata, ih. 
embraces the copper-region of 

Lake Superior, 279. 
and the lead-bearing region 
of Missouri and Wisconsin. 
2S0. 
recognized in the Black Hills 
and on tiie Colorado Pla- 
teau, 27S. 
Silver-mines of Mexico, 259. 

of Nevada. 330. 
Sitka, climate of, 199. 
Sky, serenity of. in Peru, 118. 

of the United States as com- 
pared with England. 191. 
Slates, auriferous, of California, 



30S. 



442 



INDEX. 



SMI 

Smith, Dr. Angus, on Sanitary 
Economy, 146. 

Soil, whence derived, 210. 
exhaustion of. 334. 

Solar influence, 139. 

Somerville, Mrs., cited, 66. 

Sorghum, culture of, 225. 

South America, features of, iii. 

South Pass, height of, 26. 

Squier, E. G., cited, on the Andes, 
112. 

Stansbur}', Capt. H., his explora- 
tion of Salt Lake, 90. 

Staring, on peat-growth, 74. 

Steppes, of Black-Sea region, 125. 

Stephenson, George, value of his 
invention, 236. 

St. Lawrence, basin of, 47. 

St. Louis limestone, range of, 288. 

St. Peter's sandstone, range of, 2S1. 

Sugar-cane, cultivation of, 224. 

Sun, universal influence of, on 
matter, 139. 

on organic matter, 143 ; 147 ; 

ISO- 
Systems of rocks, 246. 

Azoic, 264. 

Silurian, 273. 

Devonian, 286. 

Carboniferous, 287. 

Triassic, 305. 

Permian. 304. 

Cretaceous, 310. 

Tertiary, 318. 

Post-Pliocine, 332. 

Recent, 340. 
Swallow, S. G., on geology of Mis- 
souri, 280; 284; 298; 345; 306. 
Systems of elevation, 254. 

Appalachian, 255. 

Rocky Mountain, 257. 

Lake Superior, 254. 

Coast Ranges, 259. 
System, river, 263. 



Table-lands of the United States, 

33- 

of South America, 113. 

of Central Asia, 129. 
Table Mountain, described, 261. 
Tables of temperature, 207. 

of precipitation, 208. 

of rock formations, 246. 



T R E 

of agricultural products, 240. 

of population, 241. 
Temperature, lines of, 208. 

causes which modify, 177. 

agency of oceanic currents, 199. 

that of the Pacific, 19S. 

of the Gulf Stream, 1S8. 

effects of, on forest range, 79. 
Temperate Zone, life in, 362. 
Terraces of Modified Drift, 342. 

along the Great Lakes, ib. 
Tertiary deposits, 318. 

change in animal life indica- 
ted, ib. 

marine of Atlantic Coast, 320. 

divisions of Eocine, Miocine, 
and Pliocine, 320. 

fresh-water series of Missouri 
Basin, 321. 

Loup-River group, 323. 

White-River group, 324. 

Wind-River group, 325. 

Fort Union or Great Lignite 
group, 326. 

Lignites of the Great Basin, 

3-7- 
Miocine beds of Pacific Slope, 

32S. 
coal-deposits of, ib. 
igneous products of, 329. 
silver-ores of Washoe, 330. 
Teutonic race, origin of. 3S1. 

characteristics of, 384. 
Texas coal-field, 298. 
Tin, occurrence of, in Missouri, 

268. 
Titicaca, lake of, 112. 
Tobacco, culture of. 230. 
Trappean rocks of Lake Superior, 
275; 277. 

of the California Coast, 261 ; 

339- 
of the Great Basin, 329. 
of the Colorado, 261. 
Trees, range of in United States, 
71- 

character of Northern forests, 

80. 
of the Appalachian Slope, 79. 
of the Pacific Slope. 92. 
their effects on health, 144. 

on climate, 159. 
how they grow. 141. 
effects of destroying the for- 
est, 152. 



INDEX. 



443 



T R E 

Tree-planting, eflects of, 162. 
Trenton limestone, range of, 282. 
Triassic system, range of, 258; 

305- 

on Atlantic Coast, 306. 
on Pacific Coast. 307. 
Tropical climate, on life, 360. 
Turchin, J. B.. cited, on the steppes 
of the Black Sea, 128. 

U. 
United States : 

geological map of, 272. 

isothermal lines of, 208. 

winds of, 103. 

rain-fall in. 96. 

vegetation of, 71. 

climatology of, 182. 

geology of, 209. 
Upheaval, see systems of. 
Upper Silurian, range of, 284. 



Vegetation, zones of, 78. 
Volcanic products, 261. 
Volcanoes of United States : 

in the Rocky Mountains, 31. 

in the Great Basin, 330. 

in the Colorado Plateau, 31. 

in the Cascade Range, 36. 
Volney, cited, 104. 

W. 

Warren, G. K., cited, 30. 
Washington, Mount, height of, 27. 
Washoe Mountains, 27; 330. 

silver-ores of ib. 
Water-sheds, of the Mississippi, 26. 

of the Missouri, 39. 

of the Ohio, 26. 

of the St. Lawrence, 47. 

of the Canadian, 26. 



Z O N 

Wheat, culture of, 215. 
White-River group. 323. 
Whitney, J. D., cited : 

on the Trias of California, 

258; 307- 
on the Coast Ranges, 260. 
on structure of Table Moun- 
tain, 261. 
on the measurement of Shas- 
ta. 35. 
on quicksilver of California, 

314- 
on Drift of California, 338. 
Whittlesey, Charles, cited : 

on wheat-culture in Pembina, 

217. 
on height of the Great Lakes, 
352- 
Winchell, cited, 285. 
Wind-River group. 325. 
Winds, region of, 120. 

of Caribbean Sea, 103. 
systems of, 173. 
map of, 140. 

of North America, 103; 195. 
of South America, 120. 
as disinfectants, 146. 
their evaporative power, 190. 
Wisconsin, Lead-region of, 282. 
Worthen, A. H., cited, on the Ge- 
ology of Illinois, 284; 285; 28S; 
321- 



Yosemite Valley, 95. 
Youkon River, 62. 



Zinc-ores, distribution of, 294. 
Zones of vegetation in United 
States, 78. 



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